Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke is calling for a nationwide regulation for a possible end to the corona protection measures. “If what Mr. Drosten and many other experts say is true, it makes sense that we can soon do without all measures,” said the SPD politician at the German Press Agency in Potsdam. “But that should be coordinated nationwide.” Woidke pointed out that the Brandenburg regulation applies until January 11th. The federal corona rules are stipulated by law until April 7th, but can be overturned earlier.
In an interview with the “Tagesspiegel”, the virologist Christian Drosten said, among other things, that in his opinion the pandemic was over and was becoming an endemic. The immunity against Sars-CoV-2 will be so broad and resilient after the winter that the virus can hardly get through in the summer. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) then called for “the last corona protection measures” to be ended. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) rejected this with reference to full clinics, overworked staff and excess mortality, but left open whether the rules would be adhered to until April. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) referred to the legal situation and thus supported Lauterbach.
Woidke’s warning
The Brandenburg head of government warned of a competition to lift corona protection. “I don’t think much of the fact that individual federal states make individual regulations and enter into an outbidding competition,” said Woidke. “It is precisely such solo attempts that have repeatedly caused great uncertainty among the population.”
In Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt, masks are no longer compulsory on local buses and trains. In Schleswig-Holstein it expires by the end of the year. The Brandenburg cabinet had extended the FFP2 mask requirement on public buses and trains in local transport before Christmas until January 11th. The mask requirement also applies to visitors to communal accommodation for refugees and homeless people in closed rooms. The corona isolation obligation also still applies in Brandenburg. The federal government provides the masks for passengers in long-distance public transport and visitors to hospitals and nursing homes as well as doctor’s offices until April.
