According to a survey, the imminent end of the state corona requirements is met with majority approval – but according to their own statements, many want to continue to pay attention to certain protection voluntarily.
In a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, 41 percent fully agreed that the end of the last mask and test obligations was correct. Another 30 percent tended to agree. Seven percent did not agree at all, and 14 percent did not agree at all.
Most would self-isolate
According to the survey, however, there is a willingness in many cases to take precautionary measures on their own responsibility. If the test were positive, 51 percent would voluntarily isolate themselves – and probably 27 percent according to their own statements. 13 percent said no to that. Before meeting older or otherwise vulnerable people, 31 percent and probably 32 percent would voluntarily carry out self-tests. According to this, 26 percent would not do it.
At 55 percent, medical practices were mentioned most frequently as situations and places in which one would continue to wear a mask voluntarily or already do so. This was followed by buses and trains in local transport (30 percent), longer long-distance journeys by plane, train and bus (24 percent) and shops (16 percent). 26 percent stated that they did not wear a mask voluntarily in any of the several situations mentioned. For the survey, 2041 people aged 18 and over were interviewed from February 22nd to 24th.
Mask requirement will soon end in hospitals and Co.
According to plans by the federal government, the remaining corona provisions in the Infection Protection Act are to be phased out in two steps. First of all, from March 1st, there will no longer be any testing requirements for health facilities, and the mask requirement for employees and residents will no longer apply. On April 7th, the mask requirement for visitors to medical practices, hospitals and nursing homes is to expire. The government is preparing a corresponding regulation.
The Braunschweig virologist Melanie Brinkmann criticized the end of the mask requirement for employees in these facilities, which was planned for March 1st. She would have found it better to “maintain the obligation in these critical areas of our health system,” said the scientist of the “Rheinische Post”.
She also said: “Unfortunately, the masks have been heavily politicized, which I very much regret.” The level of protection is undoubtedly very high. It would therefore make sense to continue to make the obligation for visitors to clinics, medical practices and homes “as long as the infection rate is high”. Vulnerable groups could be protected so much better.
