The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) advises the cabinet to let people also wear medical masks in busy public outdoor areas. This advice applies to outdoor areas where it is not possible to keep 1.5 meters away, such as in busy shopping streets, during sporting events and demonstrations. Do you hope for a mouth cap obligation in busy outdoor areas?
The OMT also recommends wearing a medical mask for all public indoor areas where several people from different households are present. This applies to everyone from the age of thirteen. The mask should be worn continuously, except when someone is eating or drinking something. This applies to, for example, colleges and universities, the catering industry and companies and office spaces.
Wearing a face mask would lower the risk of infection by 53 percent. This is according to research published in The British Medical Journal. It has also been investigated whether a surgical mask works better than a homemade mouth cap. The research shows that it makes little difference which mask you wear.
Abroad
In countries such as Spain and Italy, face masks have been mandatory in public indoor and outdoor areas for some time. This applies to anyone aged six and over. Shops, restaurants and cultural institutions are open as usual in these countries.
Comments
Anneleen wonders on Twitter how many people get infected outside. She thinks that the mouth caps create more waste on the street.
Kim says that being overweight is a problem around corona. According to her, everyone should be able to go to the gym for free, instead of now having to wear face masks outside.
Linda indicates that she thinks it is a good idea to wear face masks in outdoor areas. For example, she thinks of the schoolyard.
Join the conversation
Do you hope for a mouth cap obligation in busy outdoor areas? And that everything can open again, just like abroad? Or do you think wearing face masks in outdoor areas is nonsense and do you think it will not help to reduce the infections? Join the conversation through our Facebook page.