One day after Minister of Education Polaschek – citing experts – announced the end of compulsory masks in schools, three of the Gecko members distanced themselves from it. They do not want this relaxation recommended.
Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) announced on Monday that masks would no longer be compulsory for all students at their seats. This measure has been in effect for elementary school students since yesterday, Monday, February 14th, and the secondary schools will follow suit from next Monday, February 21st. The Minister of Education referred to the “constant exchange with the Ministry of Health” and the “overall assessment” of the experts on the Corona advisory board Gecko.
But not everyone is behind this measure. Leading experts and Gecko members are now publicly distancing themselves from the announced easing. Gerry Foitik, Federal Rescue Commander of the Austrian Red Cross, wrote on Twitter: “I did not advocate omitting masks in the classes. Masks are mild, cheap and effective ways to avoid infection. I therefore recommend wearing them by Easter in indoor use,” he wrote there.
“On what evidence are elementary schools treated differently?”
“Neither do I,” agreed virologist Andreas Bergthaler. “On the contrary, I asked i) on the basis of which evidence VS are treated differently, ii) which parameters & threshold values are used to assess the infection situation, and emphasized that iii) structured testing in schools is of great value.”
Simulation researcher Niki Popper does not want to have supported this recommendation either. “Neither do I,” he agrees on Twitter. In terms of testing, he also shares the opinion of virologist Bergthaler. “Done correctly” is a good strategy “in certain phases”.
Political decision?
“There was a proposal for opening steps by the Ministry of Education to individual experts from Gecko, who worked out questions for the assessment,” said a statement to Puls 24 from the Gecko advisory board. “These questions were then clarified at the level of the specialist ministries”. An “official recommendation for easing” was denied: “Only the assessments published in the form of an executive report and the statements of the two chairmen of the commission are to be regarded as official recommendations from Gecko,” it said.
When asked by Ö1, the Ministry of Education emphasized on Tuesday that the decision to relax the mask requirement had been made “in close coordination with the health department”. And from the office of Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens), it was said that this had been agreed within the federal government. “There is no explicit recommendation from the experts at the Ministry of Health in this regard”. The Minister of Education initially claimed on Monday that “the green light was given on the basis of the expertise from the Ministry of Health”.
“Now it’s out: In the #Mittagjournal, the Ministry of Education and Health admits that the decision to waive masks in VS is not based on expertise,” summarized the patient advocate for the City of Vienna, Sigrid Pilz, on Twitter on Tuesday. “The decision was made politically and the responsibility for the consequences will have to be taken politically.”
>>> To the article in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal”
(Red.)