Georges Gilkinet said Monday he wanted an end to the compulsory wearing of a mouth mask on public transport. While no date for a next codeco has been set, Marc Van Ranst has meanwhile wanted to react to this possibility that he sees with a dim view.
“Whether the mouth mask can already be removed on trains, trams, buses and the metro, or whether we have to wait a little longer, is a political decision”, first tempers virologist Marc Van Ranst (KULeuven), interviewed by Het Laatste Nieuws.
“The coronavirus epidemic is clearly on its way back, both in Belgium and abroad. We must not forget that we are still in code orange and not yet in code yellow. Those who consider this important aspect will say that it is still too early to leave aside the mouth mask”, believes Marc Van Ranst.
The latter also finds it unfortunate that European countries do not work together to have one and the same rule. “In the Netherlands, since the end of March, wearing a mask is no longer compulsory on trains. And then, suddenly, on the train that goes from Amsterdam-Mechelen, from Roosdaal, you have to put your mask back on “.
The virologist, who says he takes the train every day, measures the quality of the air in the train on a daily basis. “And on the train I take every day, it’s not too bad. But the occupancy rate there is not very high. It will probably be different for the trains at peak hours. As in the On modern buses, there is no problem, but on the others, very high values are measured after only 15 minutes. The results are therefore very mixed”, concludes the virologist with our colleagues from HLN.