In other news, meet the new Health Minister, Mr. Rauch, who's just like his predecessor (surprise)--no time to celebrate, for come May or June, the régime will think about the injection mandate again
Is the FFP-classification interpreted differently in Germany/Autria than in Sweden?
FFP2 is what you would use when sanding plaster joints for example. It doesn't stop a virus, that's FFP3. And then only if proper protocol is followed, including making sure the mask is tightly fitted. Even when using correct protocol there's a slight risk, though the amount of viral material you'd inhale would be miniscule. And as anyone who has ever worked with a tightfitting mask with proper filters know, it's not something you'd wear anymore than necessary.
And the masks worn when removing asbestos or when at risk from (heavy) metal dust... oh boy. The separate aiflow is nice compared to rebreathing your own halitosis the way you do in FFP-masks, but it's still a hassle. Zero peripheral vision, which for me means impaired balance to boot.
Not to mention the ABC-proof masks worn by soldiers. After a while it feels as if the straps have cut you to the bone, even when fitted properly.
It's a testament to most people never having had a job where real masking is not only mandatory by rules but necessary, that the whole magic ritualism surrounding this worked at all. They could have just gone for plague doctor masks and pomandrs instead.
A few comments regarding Germany: FFP2 was mandatory in shops in Bavaria, but not in other states, in 2021. The country-wide FFP2 mania really started in February 2022 when some courts ruled that banning the unvaccinated from shops was illegal. FFP2 was a kind of revenge of the authorities. Specific requirements are very different. In my state (Hessen) it's FFP2 in all shops. In some other states, it's surgical masks in supermarkets but FFP2 in other shops. In Rheinland-Pfalz, surgical masks are ok everywhere but there the unvaccinated are still being banned (not from supermarkets). The Stiftung Warentest, an NGO providing testing of all kinds of consumer products, cancelled a test of FFP2 masks for kids because they were shocked how little oxygen came through these masks.
Also, labour laws (older than Covid) require something like 45 minute breaks after wearing FFP2 masks for more than around 2 hours (or less, depending on the type of work). Therefore, only customers have to wear FFP2 masks in shops, surgical masks are fine for the employees.
Nobody investigates if FFPs masks are really helpful against spread of Covid. They just implemented an a priori hierarchy cloth < surgical < FFP2 that can be used to track and visualize how bad the situation is at the moment. Some years ago I read "Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande" by E.E. Evans-Pritchard. The Azande also had different oracles (some run-of-the-mill, some complicated and expensive) in order to indicate how serious some business was.
Bavaria was, for 'whatever reason', almost as insane as Austria, with the main difference being that the Bavarians weren't the federal gov't (thank heaven, I suppose).
As to the 'are these non-pharmaceutical interventions actually helping', I suppose that a resounding 'nope' is the correct answer to hat one. They don't work against the virus, but they are primarily an agit-prop prop, which is to say that they increase both the feelings of imminent danger (fear-porn force multiplier) as well as work on the in/out-group level (wearing one puts you in the in-group/believer tribe), hence masks may be more appropriately considered as a form of virtue-signalling display of affiliation and/or support for one particular (tribal) group.
These kinds of masks may be worn in work environments you mentioned, albeit for 90-120 minutes at a time (for the obvious oxygen saturation issues you mentioned). It is patently absurd to mandate these masks for continous use in, say, hospital settings for 8+ hour shifts, but that's not all: these kinds of masks are typically working for about 90-120 minutes, hence a 'regular' 8h shift would mean at least 4 FFP masks (realistically, many more, for if you take off one of these beauties for lunch, you shouldn't wear them again, isn't it?). This ain't done, so they are basically incubators for all kinds of esp. bacterial infections of the throat and respiratory tracts.
Also, there's a bunch of labour laws and protective regulations for the use of these kinds of PPE, but these safety regulations aren't enforced. Anectode from one of my friends who runs a GP/family doctor practice (3 docs) in Vienna: 8+ hour workdays, continuous FFP2 mask wearing (same mask for at least one workday, can't afford more for the staff). When we spoke, I asked about labour laws (which prescribe a 30 minute break every 90 minutes in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, by the way), and my friend just retorted: 'Pandemic trumps Labour Law.'
I was stunned--these health ordinances are clearly counter-productive.
Good point about the ritualism/talisman part; another of of my friends (anthropoligist with specialisation on rural Myanmar/Burma) said the same.
Next week, vaccination mandates will be discussed in German parliament, with a decision scheduled for the beginning of April. Let's hope that Austria's example injects some sense into a few more of our parliamentarians.
Greetings from up north, and condolences on Mr. Lauterbach (who seems quite like Mr. Mückstein). I hope that the MPs will have more of a backbone than their Austrian counterparts, but I fear they won't. Perhaps the CDU/CSU opposition will be 'better' than the SP-led lunatics in Austria, as in, opposition to this crap because they aren't in power, i.e., politics over sanity, but still: better than nothing (much like the Republicans in the US).
Also, note that virtually no-one is getting injected anymore in Austria these days: alsmot 800,000 are certifiably 'recovered' now, and injection rates have plummeted, esp. 'first' injections are close to inexistent these days.
Is the FFP-classification interpreted differently in Germany/Autria than in Sweden?
FFP2 is what you would use when sanding plaster joints for example. It doesn't stop a virus, that's FFP3. And then only if proper protocol is followed, including making sure the mask is tightly fitted. Even when using correct protocol there's a slight risk, though the amount of viral material you'd inhale would be miniscule. And as anyone who has ever worked with a tightfitting mask with proper filters know, it's not something you'd wear anymore than necessary.
And the masks worn when removing asbestos or when at risk from (heavy) metal dust... oh boy. The separate aiflow is nice compared to rebreathing your own halitosis the way you do in FFP-masks, but it's still a hassle. Zero peripheral vision, which for me means impaired balance to boot.
Not to mention the ABC-proof masks worn by soldiers. After a while it feels as if the straps have cut you to the bone, even when fitted properly.
It's a testament to most people never having had a job where real masking is not only mandatory by rules but necessary, that the whole magic ritualism surrounding this worked at all. They could have just gone for plague doctor masks and pomandrs instead.
A few comments regarding Germany: FFP2 was mandatory in shops in Bavaria, but not in other states, in 2021. The country-wide FFP2 mania really started in February 2022 when some courts ruled that banning the unvaccinated from shops was illegal. FFP2 was a kind of revenge of the authorities. Specific requirements are very different. In my state (Hessen) it's FFP2 in all shops. In some other states, it's surgical masks in supermarkets but FFP2 in other shops. In Rheinland-Pfalz, surgical masks are ok everywhere but there the unvaccinated are still being banned (not from supermarkets). The Stiftung Warentest, an NGO providing testing of all kinds of consumer products, cancelled a test of FFP2 masks for kids because they were shocked how little oxygen came through these masks.
Also, labour laws (older than Covid) require something like 45 minute breaks after wearing FFP2 masks for more than around 2 hours (or less, depending on the type of work). Therefore, only customers have to wear FFP2 masks in shops, surgical masks are fine for the employees.
Nobody investigates if FFPs masks are really helpful against spread of Covid. They just implemented an a priori hierarchy cloth < surgical < FFP2 that can be used to track and visualize how bad the situation is at the moment. Some years ago I read "Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande" by E.E. Evans-Pritchard. The Azande also had different oracles (some run-of-the-mill, some complicated and expensive) in order to indicate how serious some business was.
Bavaria was, for 'whatever reason', almost as insane as Austria, with the main difference being that the Bavarians weren't the federal gov't (thank heaven, I suppose).
As to the 'are these non-pharmaceutical interventions actually helping', I suppose that a resounding 'nope' is the correct answer to hat one. They don't work against the virus, but they are primarily an agit-prop prop, which is to say that they increase both the feelings of imminent danger (fear-porn force multiplier) as well as work on the in/out-group level (wearing one puts you in the in-group/believer tribe), hence masks may be more appropriately considered as a form of virtue-signalling display of affiliation and/or support for one particular (tribal) group.
FFP2 = N95 respirators.
These kinds of masks may be worn in work environments you mentioned, albeit for 90-120 minutes at a time (for the obvious oxygen saturation issues you mentioned). It is patently absurd to mandate these masks for continous use in, say, hospital settings for 8+ hour shifts, but that's not all: these kinds of masks are typically working for about 90-120 minutes, hence a 'regular' 8h shift would mean at least 4 FFP masks (realistically, many more, for if you take off one of these beauties for lunch, you shouldn't wear them again, isn't it?). This ain't done, so they are basically incubators for all kinds of esp. bacterial infections of the throat and respiratory tracts.
Also, there's a bunch of labour laws and protective regulations for the use of these kinds of PPE, but these safety regulations aren't enforced. Anectode from one of my friends who runs a GP/family doctor practice (3 docs) in Vienna: 8+ hour workdays, continuous FFP2 mask wearing (same mask for at least one workday, can't afford more for the staff). When we spoke, I asked about labour laws (which prescribe a 30 minute break every 90 minutes in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, by the way), and my friend just retorted: 'Pandemic trumps Labour Law.'
I was stunned--these health ordinances are clearly counter-productive.
Good point about the ritualism/talisman part; another of of my friends (anthropoligist with specialisation on rural Myanmar/Burma) said the same.
Next week, vaccination mandates will be discussed in German parliament, with a decision scheduled for the beginning of April. Let's hope that Austria's example injects some sense into a few more of our parliamentarians.
Greetings from up north, and condolences on Mr. Lauterbach (who seems quite like Mr. Mückstein). I hope that the MPs will have more of a backbone than their Austrian counterparts, but I fear they won't. Perhaps the CDU/CSU opposition will be 'better' than the SP-led lunatics in Austria, as in, opposition to this crap because they aren't in power, i.e., politics over sanity, but still: better than nothing (much like the Republicans in the US).
Also, note that virtually no-one is getting injected anymore in Austria these days: alsmot 800,000 are certifiably 'recovered' now, and injection rates have plummeted, esp. 'first' injections are close to inexistent these days.
Same here. First injections are down to 60,000 per week (presumably, many of these kids 5-11).