… from Monday
Diário de Notícias on the mainland reports that the rules regarding masks will continue to vary by airline, despite the end of the mandatory recommendation by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported today that, as of next Monday, they will no longer recommend mandatory masks at European airports and flights.
In a joint statement released today regarding air travel in the European Union (EU) at a time of lifting restrictions related to Covid-19, EASA and the ECDC indicate that they will “remove the recommendation for the mandatory use of medical masks at airports and on board flights”, while remembering that “a face mask remains one of the best protections against the transmission” of SARS-CoV-2, namely for the most vulnerable people.
“The update of the Joint Protocol on Aviation Health Safety takes into account the latest developments of the pandemic, in particular, the levels of vaccination and naturally acquired immunity and the lifting of restrictions in a growing number of European countries”, justify these EU agencies.
At stake are new recommendations for air travel in the EU on the use of face masks, which should come into force from next Monday.
Even so, the rules regarding masks will continue to vary by airline beyond that date, so these European agencies point out that, on flights to or from a destination where the use of masks is still necessary on public transport, it must continue. to encourage the use of masks , in line with the recommendations.
Vulnerable passengers must also continue to wear a face mask regardless of the rules, defended EASA and the ECDC, specifying that, in these cases, an FFP2/N95/KN95 type mask must be used, “which offers a higher level of protection than a standard surgical mask”.
Cited by the press release, EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky points out that “from next week, face masks will no longer be mandatory in air travel in all cases, broadly in line with the new requirements of the national authorities across Europe on public transport”.
“For air passengers and crews, this is a big step forward in the normalization of air travel”, says Patrick Ky, but urging passengers to behave “responsibly and respect the choices of others around them”.
ECDC Director Andrea Ammon notes that “although the risks remain, […] non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccines [restrictive measures] have allowed lives to begin to return to normal”, hence it is no longer mandatory use of a mask in air travel in the EU is recommended.
Still, Andrea Ammon points out that it is “important to keep in mind that, along with physical distancing and good hand hygiene, [wearing a mask] is one of the best methods to reduce transmission”.
The guidelines released today also include an “easing of stricter measures on air operations, which will help to ease the burden on the industry, while keeping appropriate measures in place,” the EU agencies said.
Thanks to PeterA for the link
COVID-19 in Madeira: updates can be found in an earlier post
You have to ask what the point is anymore.
Not if you don’t want to get ill! It’s quite clear!
Masks are still needed for the vulnerable and, crucially, to protect others. My husband (91) and I will continue to do so. To those who say ‘’Why bother?” I’d say if masks are useless would they like their dentists or health professionals to stop wearing them too.
Quite. The sad thing is that wearing masks (amongst other Covid measures) protects others more than yourself, so whilst we can do all we can to protect ourselves, e.g. wear masks, we are ultimately dependent on others to keep us safe.
The very fact that the incidence of ‘flu has been so low over the last couple of years shows how effective the Covid measures have been at preventing contagious diseases from spreading. Why would anyone not want to continue to take measures to prevent themselves from getting such diseases, however benign or deadly they believe them to be? Quite bizarre.
Masks are worn by health workers to stop the spread of BACTERIA, not viruses. Viruses are so tiny that they go through the finest of mask filters. Also, health professionals wear masks to stop pathogens, including saliva, sweat and skin debris from going into the patient’s open body cavities.
So you are saying that virusses DO NOT surf on small water drops (which will be stopped by the mask)?
Then why is there always a surge in covid when masks are dropped?
There isn’t. Quote me the data which supports your claim.
Caroline, I couldn’t agree more. But, sadly, I think we’re in a minority. We-seem to have lost any sense of community responsibility.
😢
The history of covid:
-1 introduce masks etc
-2 covid more or less under control
-3 relax the measures
-4 covid rises again
-5 introduce masks etc
Repeat at nauseam
A history of populism, me me me, plain stupidity and conspiration theories.
–
That is factually wrong. The evidence is that in almost every country, certainly in the UK, with each “wave”, infections peaked and were already falling BEFORE governments introduced or tightened restrictions.
I don’t know where you get your information from, John, but remember that at the start of The Covid Panic Ofcom instructed the BBC not to question the decisions of the government on Covid.
Try vizors to protect yourself; as has already been said, masks protect others more than the wearer.
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king
Why limit ourselves to masks? Mandatory full HAZMAT suits for all!
Including when alone in the car or home alone during zoom calls! And during showering as well!
Also, we should NEVER take off the masks for eating or drinking!
Food & liquid intake is a stupid excuse! The virus doesn’t discern! Intravenous tube feeding for everyone!
Also, mandatory vaccination every 3 months or go to prison!
Of course, the absolute best solution is world-wide total lock-down and martial law EVERYWHERE!
And if you die and your corpse tests positive for covid, all your descendants and extended family should be sent to the covid camps and euthanized!
Don’t be reckless, people! It’s all for our health and for the public good!
Roflmao 😂😂😂
Always happy to bring a smile, Senhor Maurice!
Spoken like a true freedom fighter, fighting against virologists.
The collateral deaths? Ah – unavoideble when fighting for freedom.
Collateral damage.
A study from Sao Paulo University just published found that mask wearing in almost all European countries made no difference to the rates of covid, and, crucially, that death rates were HIGHER in those countries with compulsory mask use. Search for the cureus website (links seem to prevent upload).
What might the reason be for the higher death rates associated with mask use? One answer is the Foegen effect, described in a new study in Kansas which found that mandatory masking increased case mortality there by 85%. Deep re-inhalation of hypercondensed droplets or pure virions caught in facemasks as droplets can worsen prognosis and might be linked to long-term effects of COVID-19. Search for research on the Foegen effect.
So, masks not only do not work, they increase mortality from covid. WHO advised against their use in the community until it was nobbled by politicians who were desperate to be seen to be doing “something”. As for being “selfish” if one doesn’t wear one, masks are nothing more than comforters, used in the same way as someone with OCD would use their rituals and compulsions thinking that they keep them “safe”. Are we doing an OCD sufferer any good by reinforcing their meaningless rituals? No, we are keeping them stuck and frightened. Ditto with masks. I help you by trying to liberate you from your useless and, as the research shows, dangerous dependency. Yes, you will be frightened to go without your magic mask at first, but eventually you will be free and your anxiety will be gone.
Peter – if you send me the link I can check it and publish it here
I found the links, cut can’t post them for some reason…
So here are the conclusions of those two studies:
1. Cureus Study – Conclusion:
“The lack of negative correlations between mask usage and COVID-19 cases and deaths suggest that the widespread use of masks at a time when an effective intervention was most needed, i.e., during the strong 2020-2021 autumn-winter peak, was not able to reduce COVID-19 transmission. Moreover, the moderate positive correlation between mask usage and deaths in Western Europe also suggests that the universal use of masks may have had harmful unintended consequences.”
2. Foegen Effect Kansas Study – Conclusion:
“These findings suggest that mask use might pose a yet unknown threat to the user instead of protecting them, making mask mandates a debatable epidemiologic intervention.”
*but
Thank you Susan.
Sent, but obviously my message to Admin, because it contains hyperlinks, is not showing here.
I have a beard & moustache so masks are not tight fits so air being breathed out edits around the sides.
I have seen so many people using tatty dirty masks that they have been using for months when they are meant to be single-use for a max 4 hours.
As spectacle wearers how they like masks. Because the masks are not fitting flush against the skin your specs must up as you breathe out. So your exhausted breath is not going through the mask but upwards around either side of your booster.
The only masks I know that are 100% effective are the military gas masks which can be worn with NBC suits – Nuclear, Biological & Chemical warfare. At the height of the cold war I was in Germany with the RAF and we had them. Horrible things to wear, you feel like you are suffocating wearing one.
Typos!
So your exhausted breath is not going through the mask but upwards around either side of your hooter.
So we have 2 expert virologist in this blog. Aren’t we lucky?
One claims that masks don’t prevent virusses from going through the finest woven masks, because they are too small.
The other one claims that re-inhalation of droplets actually worsens the problem.
Yet, they obtained their Virologist Diploma at the same Google University???
And it gets even weirder.
I just noticed that those 2 Google experts have the same first name – or is this a case of paranoid schizofrenia?
John: I’m reminded of tbe great line in the film Shirley Valentine, when the schoolgirl Shirley is asked a general knowledge question by the head teacher, who doesn’t like Shirley. All the other pupils who answer get it wrong, then Shirley gives the correct answer. Outraged, the head teacher says “Someone must have told you!”, to which Shirley replies “How the bleedin’ else am l supposed to know?!”
Do you mean you are Shirley and the other pupils are virologists?
Covid is spread by aerosols, tiny particles which can float in the air for long periods (as opposed to droplets which are heavy and fall to the ground within seconds). So covid is floating up and down, left and right, depending on air currents, in the air that we breathe (hard to stomach fact: there is no avoiding it). So visors are totally useless. Imagine spraying air freshener whilst you are wearing a visor. You will still smell it, just as covid will still get up your nose.
This comment is misplaced. I intended it as a reply to Michael’s recommendation of visors earlier in the chain