Mo., Jan. 30th 2023
The Swiss government is sitting on millions of expiring face masks.
The Swiss government is sitting on 130 million CHF worth of face masks purchased for the Covid-19 pandemic – about 80% of which will expire this year, according to a report published over the weekend in local newspaper SonntagsZeitung.
About 180 million FFP2 (“filtering face piece”) masks are sitting in Swiss army warehouses, according to army pharmacy figures. About 140 million will expire this year and are slated to be destroyed, unless that Swiss government can find alternative uses for them.
The materials the masks are made of age naturally – the rubber bands become weak and the electrostatic charge in the filters break down, according to the government. Switzerland had to destroy 9 million face masks ordered during the avian flu outbreak as they developed mold spores on them.
“Even if protective material has reached its expiry date, alternative ways are sought to put it to a meaningful further use, or if possible to extend the expiry date,” according to the government. Switzerland is currently attempting to sell most of the face masks at market price. (RELATED: Switzerland orders, destroys Covid vaccines).
February 17, 2023 marks one year since Switzerland lifted most of its mask mandates.
The news comes almost one year after Switzerland dropped most of its Covid-19 restrictions, such as indoor mask mandates, travel restrictions and the use of the controversial Mobile Covid Certificate. Despite Switzerland putting indoor mask mandates in place for nearly two years while different strains of Covid swept across Europe, a number of studies have found that those mask mandates have had little to no effect on Covid.
According to one Swiss study, researchers “did not detect statistically significant impacts of this policy, neither on all-cause mortality, nor on COVID-19 cases and deaths… effects of the face-mask mandates on mortality are unlikely.”
In schools, Switzerland implemented far fewer and shorter mask mandates than other countries, such as Germany and the Vereinigte Staaten. The mandates were set by each canton, but tended to apply only to children 12 years and older, as well as teachers. In addition, those mask mandates were dropped more quickly than some other countries. That said, Swiss children – especially teens and university students – have suffered the brunt of Covid-related stress and mental health issues, according to a bombshell report released at the end of last year.
Requiring face masks on public transportation was one of the last mandates to be dropped in Switzerland.
The Swiss government has already disposed of more than 2 million expired face masks, according to the Swiss Army. A portion of the excess 180 million masks will expire as soon as May and are being donated to other countries along with humanitarian supplies. About 6 million masks have been delivered to Ukraine. And while recycling them is possible (the plastic can be extracted and melted down to make helmets), most of them will likely be incinerated, according to SonntagsZeitung.
“There is currently no forecast as to how many protective masks with an expiration date of 2023 will be recycled or used in another way,” the government said. A group will first check “all cost- and resource-saving recycling methods,” before destroying them.
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