Covid-19 Mandatory Masks

Nikolas Löbel, a lawmaker from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), stepped down on Monday over a government deal to procure face masks.

"In order to avoid further damage to my party, I am resigning my Bundestag mandate with immediate effect," Löbel said.

Last year, CDU MP Nikolas Löbel brokered deals with Corona protection masks to German companies and earned more than a quarter of a million euros in commissions, according to information from Business Insider. According to the report, Löbel offered potential customers in Germany "mask deliveries reliably and quickly from China via Bricon Technology GmbH, based in Wurmlingen". Löbel had contact with this member of the People's Chamber after he had written to the Chinese raw materials company Sinopec, which sells Corona protective masks on a large scale all over the world.

Under ex-President Trump, the proposal by the US Food and Drug Administration was rejected - but has now been implemented on the instructions of his successor Biden: From next week onwards, masks will be compulsory in public transport in the USA. Last week, the new US President Joe Biden had instructed federal authorities to take measures to make masks mandatory on public transport. If a passenger refuses, however, he or she is now in violation of federal law under the CDC's regulation, so that flight attendants or conductors, for example, can better enforce the obligation.

President-elect Joe Biden's first executive order will be a nationwide mask mandate, not as a "political statement" but for the "health of our families, and economic recovery of our country."

"This executive action will direct the agencies to take action to require compliance with CDC guidance on mask wearing and physical distancing in federal buildings, on federal lands, and by federal employees and contractors," Biden’s counselor and Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said. "And the President will call on governors, public health officials, mayors, business leaders and others to implement masking, physical distancing and other public measures to control Covid-19."

In Bavaria, from next Monday onwards, there will be an obligation to wear FFP2 masks in public transport and in retail. This was decided by the cabinet on Tuesday in Munich, as Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) said.

Söder said the "normal community masks" are in the Corona pandemic to protect others. FFP2 masks also protect the wearer himself. The goal, he said, is to improve safety in public transportation and commerce.

"Availability in trade is sufficiently guaranteed, so there is no shortage of FFP2," the prime minister stressed.

A study conducted by OceansAsia estimates that 1.56 billion of around 52 billion manufactured face masks in 2020 will have entered oceans this year, resulting in an additional 4,680 to 6,240 metric tonnes of marine plastic pollution.

“The 1.56 billion face masks that will likely enter our oceans in 2020 are just the tip of the iceberg,” says Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Director of Research for OceansAsia, and lead author of the report. “The 4,680 to 6,240 metric tonnes of face masks are just a small fraction of the estimated 8 to 12 million metric tonnes of plastic that enter our oceans each year.”

German privacy advocates warn against the creeping use of surveillance systems to identify people. Not only in retail but also in football stadiums, developers are already experimenting with automatic systems for recognizing the implementation of the mask-wearing requirement and for temperature measurement.

These systems could potentially encourage a faster return to "everyday life", but at the same time, there are doubts about the actual implementation due to the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO). The data collected here can fall under the so-called health data, which are subject to special protection. In the case of sensitive data of this kind, the person concerned would also need to have given their explicit consent; implicit consent to purchase the tickets would not be sufficient.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday recommended the "universal use of face masks" while in indoor places other than one's home to curb the spread of Covid-19. The agency also urges people to avoid "non-essential indoor spaces" and to postpone travel.

The US President-elect Joe Biden has said he will ask Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office to curtail the spread of coronavirus.

Constitutional experts say a US president has no legal authority to order Americans to wear masks. Still, Mr Biden said during the interview he and his Vice-President Kamala Harris would set an example by donning face coverings.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has approved a new regulation for taxi operators, which states that they can refuse passengers who are not wearing masks. Drivers are required to ask customers why they do not wear masks when they board and check to see if there are any unavoidable circumstances, such as illness. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism explains the reason for the approval, saying, "This is not only for the driver but also to prevent the next passenger from becoming infected".

France makes masks mandatory in class for schoolchildren aged six and over, PM Castex said. Up until now, masks were only mandatory for children aged 11 and older.

"From Monday, when children return to school, the sanitary protocol will be made stricter. The requirement to wear a face mask will be extended to primary school children over the age of six."

Between the beginning of July and the beginning of September, the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) imposed only 470 contractual penalties for violating the mouth and nose covering. This emerges from a request to the Berlin Senate from an AfD MP. If the acceptance was 70% at peak times, according to the BVG, around 95% of passengers would now adhere to the Corona regulations.

Pupils of secondary schools in regions of England that are under local lockdown are now required to wear face coverings in schools, a U-turn on previous guidance. In those areas that are no affected by local lockdown restrictions, headteachers can decide whether masks need to be worn.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said the decision was "the most precautionary approach" based on "the latest medical and scientific advice".

Tory MPs voiced criticism, saying mask would send "the wrong message" that "schools are not a safe setting".

As Italy reports an increasing number in Covid-19 cases masks will be mandatory in public spaces where social distancing is not possible, but only between 6 pm and 6 am. In addition, nightclubs will be closed including outside venues where people dance.

Italy has reported 479 new Covid-19 cases and four deaths and according to reports several new cases have been linked to night clubs. The Italian government has stated that they'll provide economic support to all venues that have been ordered to close.

Based on data from South Korea, the United States and Israel analyzing the infections and spread of the coronavirus through children, researchers now believe that children can contract Covid-19 and easily spread it.

A group of 26 researchers from Sweden wrote that "Because children are contagious, can become seriously ill, and it is unclear today how a mild infection affects their future health, we should already at the start of school take measures to keep the infection down".

They recommend sport only outdoors, eating meals seperated in classes, avoiding group tasks and that masks should be worn at all times.

The head of corporate security at the Munich Transport Company (MVG) commented in an interview with "Die Zeit" about mouth and nose covering and passenger acceptance. Around 90% of these would adhere to the regulations and the MVG would have achieved the desired effect. The effort to achieve 100% acceptance would be too high, especially with possible limited success.

He sees the imposition of fines and fines critically and as a state task.

Malawi has made masks mandatory in public places starting Friday night. Violations will be fined $15. Activists are urging the government to provide free masks. The government has also closed all shops located near hospitals and forbid public gatherings. Malawi has around 100 confirmed daily cases.

After about a month into the enforcement of the mandated mask requirement, the Berlin Transport Authority (BVG) has counted 30,000 passengers who were travelling without a mask. In just 200 cases, contractual penalties of €50 were imposed and in 80 cases there were violent attacks on security personnel.

Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute has said that negligence is to blame for an increase in cases. Over the last seven days, Germany has registered a daily average of 557 cases, compared to around 350 in early June. The number of new infections nearly doubled to 633 on Tuesday, up from 340 on Monday.

Tuesday, during his first press conference in weeks, Wieler said: "The rise has to do with the fact that we have become negligent.". He also asked people for the first time to wear a mask outdoors if they cannot maintain a physical distance of at least 1.5 metres.

The Republican senator for Arkansas Jason Rapert has contracted Covid-19 and has been hospitalised with pneumonia on July 24th.

While he previously shared an article on Facebook that has called the Covid-19 pandemic the "biggest political hoax in history" and criticised the mandatory mask order of the Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. He described the order "an overreach of executive power without consultation with the members of the Arkansas legislature".

After being hospitalised, he then released a statement saying that "we have all been doing our best to wear a mask, social distance and be careful like everyone else. This virus is serious and can attack anyone regardless of age or general health".