Covid-19

Face Mask

Denmark

Coronavirus

Politics

Face Masks — Symbols, security blankets or PPE?

The Hierarchy of Controls shows clearly where PPE should be ranked in any hazardous situation

The Nordic & Baltic region — with 30 million people — are beating COVID19 largely without the use of facemasks. Are masks merely symbols, band-aid solutions for politicians, security blankets for a worried population — or necessary PPE?

Here in Denmark, the COVID19 lockdown is easing up and life is returning to the streets. By all accounts, the country tackled the crisis with a strong, early response. Schools, most shops and cafes/bars/restaurants closed but we could move freely about our cities — as long as no more than ten people were gathered together.

Here’s the curve in Denmark — the blue is where we’re at and the other curves are where we feared we were heading. On the right, unemployment is up, but only about 2% on average and up to 3% in harder hit regions.

In the past four weeks, I’ve counted exactly 34 face masks.

I kept track while walking or cycling through the city, as well as observing the busy intersection, including many buses, outside my windows at home, where I’ve been working. More than half of the observed mask wearers appeared to be non-Danes. My observations are similar to those made by friends and…