exbayern

No we're good, thanks. Glad to see fewer and fewer people wearing masks on public transport in Berlin.

sfgiants13

Im assuming Vienna still has their transport mandate? Wonder how long until that domino falls when even Germany is slowly peeling away their last redirections.

shorthauldad

My journey yesterday (Innsbruck-Munich Airport) involved two trains.

On the first train (the DB/ÖBB Eurocity Verona-Innsbruck-Munich service) there are no masks needed when the train is in Italy or in Austria but the moment it crosses the border into Germany masks are (still!) required, this is announced with gusto in German and English. Hat-tip to the North American couple sitting in my compartment who loudly noted how silly this is and didn't bother masking [glad you got your restaurant reservation sorted for last night and have a great time at the BMW Museum ] .. and a second hat-tip to the Bundespolizei who glanced into our compartment, saw the unmasked couple, and didn't say anything

On the second train, the S-bahn from München Ost out to the airport, masks are no longer required, perhaps 1 in 20 pax were wearing one by choice. Not a long-distance service so not covered by national rules, and Bavaria repealed the regional mask mandate on 10 Dec.

The patchwork nature of this within Germany looks increasingly silly.

exbayern

The good thing is, at least where I travel in Germany, if there is a mask rule, nobody challenges you and this has been the way for some time now.

Even in Bavaria, where the rule says 'masks in medical settings', my medical teams tell me to remove the mask. And I will say that Germany at least in many states has a clear 'medical exemption' and exemption for the deaf/hearing impaired and those travelling with them. I have my reasons for not wearing a mask, and nobody has ever challenged me or asked me why (except for online, where the situation of Germany is very different from the actual on the ground situation in Germany)

It's so odd to be on various places on line and see a few people insisting that Germany is a disaster and that we need to 'do something??!$#!!' and yet see what life is actually like. Again, different picture painted online.

The next round of extensions where rules exist I believe come up in January and since December has been pretty ok, I doubt that there will be much appetite for strengthening, let alone extending, rules.

LupineChemist

How very un-German. I mean in Spain there are rules but it's just openly flouted on the Madrid Metro by a huge number of people at this point, but that's how rules and laws work more generally here.

hugolover

I've been travelling a bit the past week in Europe, a small sample of 9 flights, and I saw more masks than I can recall for a long time. Most were FFP2/KN95.

exbayern

I've been via MUC, FRA, BER, and DUS this week as well as non-German airports and would say that mask wearing continues to be low. Experiences and biases of course vary by user.

It's also more and more rare to see a selection of FFP2 in shops and on Amazon.de. They really are keeping stock very low at this point with only a few items for sale in drugstores. Even the vast selection on Amazon of colours and sizes of FFP2 is very diminished. Clearly demand just isn't there for FFP2 masks in Germany at this point.

shorthauldad

I flew LHR-NUE today.

Where it's not mandated but fairly recently was (on board flights, in underground, local and regional trains) I'd say masking is between 5% and 15% based on the thousands of people I came across today. In broader public spaces, it's significantly less than that.

In the long-distance ICE trains more or less everyone wears them, but our null hypothesis surely has to be that it's due to the big stickers on every train door saying you have to wear an FFP2 mask, not because the public actually think there is a significant threat from infectious disease if you don't, otherwise why would one remove one's mask when changing from long distance (mask-mandated) to regional (not mask mandated) train? I rode the underground from NUE airport into the city, no mandate, low mask wearing. Boarded a long-distance train, mask mandate, stickers on doors, high mask wearing. Changed from long distance to regional train, no mask mandate, low mask wearing. Not really sure what more data anyone is looking for. Also FFP2 is all well and good but most people are not concerned about how well their mask fits, if anything it's the opposite, I guess for some it's a passive protest to have a FFP2 on ... but hanging under your nose.

Based on what I saw today at NUE and MUC - and what happens at the DE/AT border - approximately 90% of Germans are obeying the remaining mask mandates because they're mandates, and for no other reason. In summary: Germans, of all people, turn out to follow rules.

wooootles

Hmm. When I went to Madrid last month, I thought I saw 70-90% mask wearing in the metro. And the tours there kept reminding us of masking. Barcelona and Valencia were much more lax, around 30-50% mask usage.

But then over to Lisbon and Porto, it's just like Denmark and Iceland over the summer: <10% mask usage; only the elderly and some of the asian tourists were wearing them.

NLNO

Now that most restrictions are gone, maybe it would be good to change the wiki to show restrictions?

Restrictions that I know of

Spain:
masking in public transport, domestic flights + masking on all Spanish airlines and masking in ships

Germany:
masking in public transport in certain states

Austria:
masking in public transport in Vienna

Are there still other restrictions in Europe such as vaccine passes or capacity restrictions? Not that I’m aware of.

CMK10

I was in Vienna earlier this month and I rode both the tram and the U Bahn. It's not enforced and at least half the people I saw weren't masked.

sfgiants13

Sounds like it’s ending up similar to the NYC and LA transport mandates

the810

I believe Greece still has mask mandate on public transport as well. Possibly Italy too?

NLNO

You are right about Greece. Italy ended their mandate on the 1st of October.

CMK10

Reporting in from Europe right now.

- Munich: I had a 7 hour layover and rode the S Bahn into town for a beer or two. Maybe 10% of people I saw were masked. No one seemed to care on the train or at any location I went to in the city
- Nice: There are big stickers on the Trams and buses that say Masks Recommended. Not many people are wearing them though.
- Monaco: Absolutely no one seems to care. If I saw one mask I didn't notice.

It's great feeling like normal over here. This is my first time since 2019 where I've been in Europe and it feels like Europe.