Corona rules for Christmas: mask, test, isolation – what applies where?

Despite the wave of illness, many people are visiting family and friends again before Christmas. The Corona rules have been relaxed in many places. Where it is still mandatory to wear a mask, who needs a test? An overview.

the initial situation

Many people are currently ill or have sick family members at home – coughs, runny noses, sore throats are making the rounds. Sometimes it’s a cold, sometimes the flu, sometimes another respiratory infection and sometimes it’s Corona. A total of around nine million people in Germany are affected by an acute respiratory infection, as reported by the influenza working group of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in its report for the period 12 to 18 December. The clinics are full, the clinics postpone scheduled interventions and many children in particular are affected by the infections. There is a shortage of medicines.

And now it’s Christmas, which means that many people are going to visit their families or friends. “Anyone who wants to avoid contagion, especially before the Christmas holidays, can protect themselves well by wearing a mask indoors,” said Nicola Buhlinger-Göpfarth, vice president of the Association of General Practitioners. However, masks are only mandatory in certain areas. The corona protection requirements have been relaxed in many places and are not uniform. An overview:

What about the mask requirement in long-distance transportation?

Anyone traveling on Deutsche Bahn’s long-distance trains must wear an FFP2 mask on board. Here, the mask obligation is legally stipulated nationwide until April 7, 2023. In train stations, on platforms and in DB Lounges, on the other hand, the requirements of the respective federal state apply – and are inconsistent. The mask requirement on aircraft has been lifted in Germany since the beginning of October.

What about the mask requirement in local transportation?

It depends on the state you are traveling to. And when. Because countries can decide for themselves whether masks are mandatory on buses and trains in local transport. In Bayern and Saxony-Anhalt Masks are no longer mandatory in local transportation.

In Schleswig-Holstein expires at the end of the year. The state government of Kiel will be voluntary from the new year and recommends wearing a mask. However, if you drive from Kiel to Schwerin or Hamburg, you again need a mask in local traffic. Why both Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as Hamburg initially want to keep the mask requirement. In Hamburg at least until spring.

Also in Bremen wearing a mask on the bus and train is still valid – until the end of February. But the state wants to get involved Lower Saxony oriented – due to cross-border bus and train traffic. Lower Saxony’s Transport Minister Olaf Lies has so far not wanted to set a precise date for the abolition. Also North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Hesse, Baden-Wurttemberg, the Saar, Thuringia and Brandenburg keep holding the mask. in the Berliner It is valid for public transport until at least mid-January.

What about nursing homes, clinics and doctor’s offices?

In accordance with the Federal Infection Protection Act, in nursing homes and hospitals as well as for patients and visitors to doctors’ practices and other outpatient medical facilities up to 7. April 2023 an FFP2 mask requirement. Most federal states now see these regulations at least for nursing homes relaxed. In many places, therefore, it is not necessary to wear masks in communal living rooms, kitchens or dining rooms.

In North Rhine-Westphalia Masks have not been required for homes for weeks. At the moment it is not advisable to insist on a mask requirement in common rooms or common areas, he said Bremen, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Wurttemberg, Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony. Of the Berliner and the Hamburg Senate insist on strict management: “In care facilities, visitors, staff and patients who are not in their room are required to wear an FFP2 mask. There are currently no plans or initiatives in the state to change these requirements,” he shared the press office in Berlin. Also Bayern adheres to the mask requirement in care homes.

The best thing to do is to inquire on site or pay attention to the signs at the entrance.

The rules inside workshops for people with disabilitiesin Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt, for example, masks are no longer mandatory here.

For access to hospitals and inpatient and semi-inpatient and comparable facilities, as well as for employees of outpatient care services and comparable service providers, there is also a nationwide Obligation to test evidence. The free “citizenship tests” for visitors to clinics and nursing homes will initially only be available until February 28, 2023.

What about the isolation requirement?

Here too the countries are going their own way. Bayern, Baden-Wurttemberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate they lifted the requirement to isolate for at least five days for those who test positive, regardless of the RKI recommendation. Also in Saar From 10 December, infected people no longer have to isolate themselves. In many places, however, they are required to wear an FFP2 mask for at least five days and are banned from entering nursing homes or hospitals.

There is discussion whether hospital employees infected with Corona can go to work without symptoms of illness. Given the shortage of personnel, the hospital sector is calling for the end of the isolation obligation for healthcare workers. Patient advocates, but also doctors are strongly against it.

What will become of mandatory vaccination in the health system?

It has been controversial from the start. On paper, it’s been valid nationwide since March 16 – and expires at the end of the year. The reason given by the Ministry of Health was that with the variants of the virus currently in circulation, the risk of infecting other people is hardly or not at all reduced by vaccination. An extension of the obligation is therefore “not medically justifiable”. Implementing mandatory vaccination for nursing home and outpatient clinic employees proved difficult from the outset. More recently, more and more experts and politicians have questioned its benefits and called for its abolition.