Despite Increasing Mask Mandate... WHO Insists "Not Recommended"

Austria Implements Mask Mandate to Slow COVID-19 Spread: "Not Our Culture, But Necessary"

German Health Ministry Also Shifts to Recommending Masks... US Faces Strikes Demanding "Guaranteed Mask Supply"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Hyunwoo Lee, Hyunjin Jung] As the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, European countries that were previously reluctant to wear masks are now rushing to mandate mask-wearing. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) still opposes mask-wearing by the general public who are neither patients nor healthcare workers, raising concerns that it may be out of touch with reality.

According to foreign media including the Associated Press on the 30th (local time), the Austrian government announced that it will mandate mask-wearing in supermarkets and grocery stores as a measure to slow the spread of COVID-19. There are plans to expand the mask mandate to all public places frequently used by the public in the future. Until recently, Austrian health authorities did not recommend mask use. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz explained at a press conference that day, "Wearing masks is not part of our culture, but this measure is necessary to reduce transmission."

Germany has also shifted toward recommending mask use. Hanno Kautz, spokesperson for the German Health Ministry, said at a briefing that day, "Mask use can be considered an exit strategy for all measures." Alexander Kekul?, a virus expert and professor at Halle-Wittenberg University in Germany, also argued that "mask-wearing will make an important contribution to suppressing the virus outbreak" and called for a mask-wearing campaign.

However, the WHO still opposes mandatory mask-wearing. Michael Ryan, WHO Executive Director for Emergency Preparedness and Response, reiterated the organization's stance against mask mandates during a press briefing at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, stating, "There is no scientific evidence that the general public wearing masks has potential benefits," and "We do not recommend mask-wearing for healthy individuals except for healthcare workers and patients who absolutely need them." The reason is that if everyone, including healthy people who do not need masks, uses them, the resulting supply shortage will harm healthcare workers and patients who urgently require masks.

Nonetheless, German and Austrian health authorities, who initially followed WHO recommendations that masks were unnecessary for the general public, could not avoid the situation of rapidly increasing patients. The US also emphasized early in the outbreak that "masks are not necessary if you have no symptoms," but after becoming the country with the highest number of confirmed cases worldwide, it no longer makes such statements.

Masks have become essential survival items worldwide. Strikes demanding guaranteed mask supplies to companies have even occurred. Employees of the US delivery service Instacart went on strike that day, demanding better protective equipment, increased hazard pay, and guaranteed paid leave. Amid the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the US and a sharp increase in delivery service usage, some of the 200,000 Instacart employees nationwide are expected to participate in the protests.

Amazon delivery workers in Calenzano, near Florence in central Italy, also started a strike urging the company to strengthen protective gear, saying, "We survive for days with just one mask." In France, after some employees at a Carrefour store in the southern city of Vitrolles tested positive for COVID-19, other employees protested for improved working conditions, leading to a strike. As a result, starting that day, Carrefour decided to provide 2 million masks to employees at all stores across France.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.