(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) Global War Epidemic: Why is it still "difficult" to wear a mask for a diagnosis of more than 100,000 Germans?

China News Agency, Berlin, April 6 (Reporter Peng Dawei) At midnight on the 5th local time, the number of people diagnosed with New Coronary Pneumonia in Germany exceeded 100,000, becoming the fourth country in the world to accumulate more than 100,000 diagnoses. Although since the outbreak in Europe in late February, many European countries have quietly changed their positions and advocated wearing masks, reporters from the China News Agency observed on the 5th in Berlin and public places on the 5th that few people wear masks.

On March 25, local time, in Hillesheim, Germany, staff and volunteers converted the city hall into a medical center for the treatment of patients with new coronavirus.

Quietly changing from not advocating to recommending Dai ’s official position

Since the first case of new pneumonia was diagnosed in Germany on January 27, until the end of March, German officials and authoritative experts in the country pointed out that healthy people are not recommended to wear masks. The reason is that there is currently insufficient evidence to show that wearing a mask can reduce the probability of infection in healthy people.

However, despite the government ’s unprecedented and stringent measures to restrict travel to strengthen epidemic prevention, the cumulative number of diagnoses in Germany is still rising. By April 2, the number of diagnoses across the country exceeded 80,000. On the same day, the German Federal Institute for Disease Control Robert Koch Institute for the first time revised the statement on masks in its published anti-epidemic recommendations. Risk of spread of new coronary pneumonia.

Another event with the meaning of a weather vane occurred on March 30. Drosten, a top German virologist who initially opposed the wearing of masks by healthy people, revealed on a radio show that he had begun wearing masks to go shopping in supermarkets.

Although the disease control department and authoritative experts have "relaxed" one after another, Prime Minister Merkel has clearly rejected the mandatory mode of wearing masks in neighboring Austria after consulting with the state governors. In Austria, it is mandatory to wear masks from April 1st. People entering supermarkets must wear masks provided by the supermarket at the door. Austrian Prime Minister Kurz also "first set an example" and wore a mask to appear at the Congress meeting.

At the same time, the eastern German city of Jena disregarded the "reserved attitude" at the federal and state levels and announced that it would follow Austria and become Germany's first city to wear a mask.

"Intercept" and "Intercept": the choice under the shortage of masks

In the debate around masks in Germany, the shortage of masks is an unavoidable issue. In fact, even though the above-mentioned institutions and experts advised the public to wear masks, they did not forget to emphasize "please do not wear medical masks and N95 masks", and should try to make homemade cotton masks.

German Federal Minister of Health Spence stated that in the context of the current global shortage of protective equipment, it is not advisable to "wear medical masks for all people", otherwise medical staff will face the situation that no protective equipment is available. He also said that medical staff exposed to the greatest risk of infection still lack adequate masks, goggles and protective clothing.

At the beginning of the epidemic, on March 8, German-speaking media had concerned about the detention of 240,000 masks transported by a Swiss company by trucks by German customs. According to German media reports, there were also incidents in which 830,000 masks in Bergamo, Italy, were severely detained while crossing Germany, and their whereabouts were unknown.

The masks ordered by Germany worldwide have also suffered the same fate many times. A group of N95 masks originally scheduled to arrive in Germany on March 20 disappeared at the Kenyan airport. Their whereabouts are still unknown. On April 3, German media again revealed that 200,000 masks purchased by the Berlin police were suspected of being "intercepted" at Bangkok Airport in Thailand and failed to arrive in Germany.

In any case, the tightness of masks is the current situation in Germany, and the mandatory wearing of masks similar to Austria is not feasible in the short term.

Masks for the next stage of epidemic prevention or will play the leading role

According to the timetable announced by Merkel, Germany ’s current strict anti-epidemic measures will be implemented until April 20, before the federal and local governments will evaluate the effectiveness of their implementation and decide whether to make adjustments.

In fact, many German experts have published their detailed blueprints for Germany's "withdrawal from the closed state". German Minister of the Interior Zehofer also said recently that it is not ruled out that when the epidemic develops to the mid-term and economic life is back on track, it will be necessary for people to wear masks.

Regarding this issue, Lu Mengji, a well-known German virologist and professor of the Institute of Virology at the Medical College of Essen University, explained in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency that in Germany, if the number of people infected in a place exceeds a certain percentage, this area is recommended. People wear masks, "because the people who are infected but don't know they are infected are protected."

Lu Mengji said that there is still another reason to propose wearing masks, that is, Germany is considering the next step to relax the isolation measures, it is possible to open the store first, then you need to protect those patients who are asymptomatic or still in the incubation period and let them wear them. Masks. "Germany's relaxation strategy is to relax at this link, then tighten it in another aspect. Where to tighten? It is recommended that everyone wear a mask."

"However, the (Germany) government encourages everyone to sew masks themselves. Medical masks are supplies for doctors, and society cannot take up resources." Lu Mengji said. (Finish)