Germany was one of the last European countries to say that masks must be maintained on board commercial aircraft. This fell on October 1, 2022. However, this not only remains in place in public transport, but has also been tightened.

A patchwork quilt emerges again. In long-distance rail and bus transport, the federal government prescribes the wearing of FFP2 masks until at least April 7, 2023. Surgical masks were sufficient until the end of September 2022. In regional transport, it is the responsibility of the federal states, although everyone is currently sticking to the controversial mask requirement.

At the same time, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has already begun to put public pressure on the state governments to make masks compulsory again in other areas of everyday life. So far, however, the federal states are still holding back.

Increasing "media pressure" in Austria

In Austria, there is only an FFP2 mask requirement in Vienna in public transport. Signals can currently be heard from the town hall that they are considering further tightening the special route and also prescribing FFP2 masks in other areas. In all other federal states you do not have to cover your mouth and nose on buses and trains. This has also been abolished in airplanes for a long time. Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) recently said that masks will only make a comeback if the situation in the hospitals escalates. This is not the case at all at the moment.

Unfortunately, this does not prevent some mass media from publishing tendentious reports almost daily, which emphasize high numbers of infections, but at the same time ignore the fact that there are only a few Covid patients in the intensive care units and that the normal wards are only minimally utilized. Apparently, the media reports already put pressure on people in the Vienna City Hall.