"Luca" App in Germany; N95 masks required in Bavaria on all public transpo & hotels

Thanks Ann! We grabbed a handful of N95 masks from our daughter (ER physician) and will be packing those! With every country having in the EU having different requirements it's good to cover all our bases.

The general guidelines are the 3 Gs--geimpft (vaccinated), genesen (recovered), getestet (48 hour rapid antigen test, you can get them everywhere) for indoor dining and activities and for any group gatherings. Masks indoors (surgical suffices in most places, a few require FFP2/N95, cloth masks not accepted). Rules change frequently. Contact tracing required, usually through Luca, especially in Hamburg, but paper also can work depending on the place. I needed Luca to go to IKEA the other day, and I don't think they had paper options.

You can buy surgical and FFP2 masks everywhere, so don't stress about packing them in advance if you are worried.

We grabbed a handful of N95 masks from our daughter (ER physician) and
will be packing those!

I will respectfully submit that N95 masks are readily available for purchase on Amazon. I'm hoping that the ER physician shared from the stash she bought on Amazon, as opposed to misappropriating her organization's personal protective equipment intended for the safety and protection of her colleagues. My organization is still giving us paper bags to put our N95 masks in between uses so that we can use a single mask as long as possible.

Thank you Dave. As one who is living where ... no I won't comment.

Just don't deplete the needed PPE from those who need it.

I wanted to say same as you but was too angry so held off.

Thank you for the info.

I have been trying to look up Luca app in Google Play store, but found no app under this name.
Do you mind posting the weblink to this app here?

Thanks again.

No need to give Jeff Bezos more money, when these masks are for sale in EVERY grocery store, drugstore or Apotheke in Germany.
Depending on the state, you only need the FFP2 in certain ones on trains, etc. Like in Bavaria.
Medical masks are fine here in Hessen. Leave the cloth masks at home as they are not acceptable on trains, stores, churches, museums. It has to be some sort of medical mask.

What's the typical price for these FFP2 masks in Germany? Just curious ...

I think 1-2€ each? I got a batch of 6 for 2€ as a gift since I am a senior, so haven't paid much attention to the prices lately. Will look today when I go downtown.

I have found the prices at Müller (a large store in many German cities) to be competitive for masks. Here is their website that lists prices for different types.

Ms. Jo is correct. You can get them for 1-2 Euro each. Most places also accept surgical masks, and you can buy 10 packs for about 6 Euros. They now also come in black and pink for those who like variety over the blue ;) Self test kits are also readily available at about 3 Euros each, and right now the official testing stations (rapid antigen test) are still everywhere; these are free to residents, and I don't know if they are free to visitors. Takes 5 minutes to register and test, and you get your results via email within 15 minutes. However, the plan is to cut those back significantly in October and to start charging--I think 35 Euros for antigen tests. PCR tests are also easy to find and cost anywhere from 70-150 Euros depending on how fast you need them. Right now the PCRs are valid for 72 and antigen for 48 hours, but they are looking to change that to 48/24 respectively.

At least that's how it is up here in the North.

The Luca app is used extensively up here. I don't know how to post the link, but it should be available in the US app store; my family downloaded it. What isn't available is the vaccination link, so make sure you have your card available.

Oh, and if your final vaccine was a date that could be written reverse, make a note of that--a friend who was vaccinated on April 8th was recently told he wasn't past his two weeks yet because someone read the date as August 4th. We had to explain that the US writes the date differently and point to the first vaccine for evidence. Be prepared for that when you go out with your CDC card

Very good advice from Howlin Mad. I meant to post right after I came back to the States but got busy. It was super easy to get an antigen test in Berlin on August 9. The appointment was easy to make online. We were literally inside the clinic testing for 8 minutes. And we all had our results back in 20 minutes. We used a company called CovidZentrum.de and were very pleased. Rapid tests should be so easy in our home state of Delaware; unfortunately they are not! I also heard that Germany was going to start charging for these rapid antigen tests for all, their citizens and internationals, starting in October. That was the word among the locals as of August 8, 2021, in Berlin Germany. Safe travels everyone and keep on travelin'!

Ann, when you used the Luca App, did you enter a US phone number?

I installed the app and tried to get it to send me a TAN code, but nothing has arrived. Wondering if it works with a US phone number, or maybe only when in Germany.

It works but you need to fiddle with the country code- I registered by using +1 to my number I think.

Hm, tried Luca again today (manually prefixing my phone number with +1) and got a code instantly in the US.

Maybe the service was just down the first time I tried.

It looks like the Luca app will be phased out soon, so it may not be an issue. Unfortunately I cannot remember the exact dates I heard.

Oh wow! Thanks! The ‘+1’ at the beginning worked for me. Before I tried both with and without a ‘1’ in front of the number and the ‘TAN’ number never came through. Been in Germany a week and hasn’t been a huge issue without Luca app working, but it will be nice to have one less thing to think about the next two weeks!