German mask mandates are quietly withdrawn one after the other, as it finally dawns on the broader public and politicians that they're stupid and pointless

On 8 December, Sachsen-Anhalt ended mask mandates on public transit, and on 10 December, Bavaria did the same.

What proceeded to happen to rates of infection, hospitalisation and death in these two federal states, was precisely nothing:

Seven-day Covid infection incidence in Germany by federal state. I’ve added blue, green and orange vertical lines to mark the end of public transit mask mandates in Sachsen-Anhalt, Bavaria, and Schleswig-Holstein, respectively. You can see that mask mandates have zero influence on infections.