France moves to lift all of the need to wear a mask on the public transport beginning of the next week, and the experts in Brussels are calling for the same to be done in Belgium.
The masks would not be required in the airports as well as on the plans in the European Union, either. But the requirements are still in place for Belgium, even if they are followed rarely anymore.
One of the passengers mentioned in the statement, “It doesn’t make sense anymore.”
“I’m vaccinated. I get tested if I feel sick. In the middle of the crisis, I used to wear a mask all the time. But now it’s not possible.”
Moreover, the railway company of Belgium SNCB also still has a requirement to wear a mask as well as has given out about 6,000 fines for passengers who refuse since the pandemic began.
But the maximum number of fines that are being given out has dwindled. There was hardly 200 total in the first five months of 2022.
The ministers from Brussels, with the federal Mobility Ministers, have put off making a decision on the mask requirement for the public transport until the next consultative committee meeting on May 20.
Along with this, the Infectious diseases specialist Yves Van Laethem mentioned that he is “rather in favour of lifting the obligation,” highlighting that the virus is in a “downward phase, and there is no reason to believe that this will be reversed.”
The Epidemiologist Yves Coppieters largely agreed: “This general measure no longer distinguishes between people at risk and others. It is logical to relax. Most European countries are doing so… but we need nuance and to encourage people at risk to keep the mask on.”
Van Laethem stated that ending the obligation to wear a mask today when the health situation is stable would make it easier to re-impose the mask in the future if necessary.
He mentioned, “If there is a significant wave this autumn, it will probably be necessary to reintroduce it because the mask is a simple, effective and fairly inexpensive technique for combating the effective and fairly inexpensive way to fight the epidemic.”
