Should we be wearing masks? Experts convene to develop single stance
As mayors begin to tell their citizens to wear facemasks, a committee has been pulled together to form a single opinion on the matter
Sensible or excessive?
The task force will have a draft recommendation ready by Monday. It is then expected to be discussed at Wednesday’s national security council meeting.
“People who are already sick can wear a mask to prevent their respiratory droplets from infecting others,” says KU Leuven virologist Marc Van Ranst. “Healthcare workers can also wear them to prevent themselves getting sick. Other than that, there’s no reason to wear one.”
However, Van Ranst’s following statement suggests to citizens that the only reason we are told that masks are not helpful is because there are not enough of them. “China cannot keep up with demand, so if everyone buys them up from local pharmacies, then we don’t have any left for people who actually need them.”
Problems with import
Masks and disinfectant gel can now only be sold in pharmacies with a prescription. The federal government has not recommended facemasks for citizens unless someone suspects they actually have the virus.
But mayors in Brussels have started recommending wearing a mask in public, including the mayors of Oudergem, Elsene and Vorst. The mayors of Sint-Joost and Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe are even recruiting volunteers to make facemasks, which the municipality itself will distribute.
Belgium has received 16.5 million masks in recent weeks, for medical staff. It cancelled an order for two million last Friday because of a disagreement with the supplier over contract terms.
Masks delivered did not carry the necessary certification and had been stored in used banana crates and cereal boxes
Meanwhile, another supplier of masks, which failed to deliver five million to Belgium earlier this month, has responded to claims it acted fraudulently. “If the federal health ministry had paid on time, the masks would have been delivered,” said lawyers for Flemish medical importer Mossa.
The firm’s suppliers in Turkey had warned that the masks could only be delivered within three days if cleared funds were received by 12 March. The firm “stressed the importance of transferring the funds in an emergency, but the health ministry did not do so,” the lawyer added. Mossa’s founder was arrested and questioned on 13 March and released the next day.
Further, three million FFP2 masks delivered last week have been rejected because they do not meet European quality standards. And Flemish health authorities sent back a delivery of 100,000 masks because they were completely unusable.
De Tijd reports that they had come from Colombia, not China as expected, and they were for industrial, not medical, use. They did not carry the necessary certification and had been stored in used banana crates and breakfast cereal boxes.
KU Leuven biologist and interfederal spokesperson Emmanuel André said that people could be required to wear face masks after the social distancing restrictions have been lifted.
Photo: Thierry Roge/BELGA
