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When the leadership of the Ministry of Education assured that everything is ready for the start of the new school year, he did not imagine that a “failure” with masks for primary school children would cost so much. And although all the burden had fallen on having the masks in all the schools in the country, finally the problem arose due to the size of the mask.
And it is that the size of the giant for primary school children of the mask may have been commented with incredible humor on social networks, but the issue also has its serious aspect and this is the self-cancellation of the serious effort made by the government and the experts to convince parents. and that students wear the mask at school as a precaution against the coronavirus and as a means to slow the spread of the pandemic.
As much as the government tries to refrain from responsibility for the fiasco, there is also the dimension of failure towards the deniers and their critics by the fact that it chose to face the challenges of the second wave of the pandemic only through the mask.
When it comes to schools, the government has put aside all other measures proposed by experts or taken in the spring, such as distances and smaller classes or even the (failed) distance learning effort. He decided not to “invest” in anything other than masks.
In fact, at the moment the mask has acquired a symbolic meaning, beyond the practical. It is not just a means to prevent coronavirus. It is the symbol of humanity’s quest to stay safe from the invisible enemy, at least as long as there are no drugs or vaccines on the market. So the ruling is not only the wrong size of mask for the Primary School children, but even more so that with this symbol the government “played” and lost.
Explanations of the fiasco
Education Minister Niki Kerameos spoke about a flaw that will be corrected immediately, as new specifications have been given to give students the appropriate masks, while for as long as it takes to prepare the new masks, students they will be covered with a single use.
Asked about the fiasco, Ms. Kerameos told MEGA: “I will refer you to the explanations given by the Secretary General of Public Health. We, as the Ministry of Education, cooperate with all interested parties, with the aim of protecting our students and teachers. […] I believe that detailed explanations have been given as to what happened and I understand that other explanations will be given. I have nothing more to say about it. Let’s see the big picture. We had a good opening yesterday. “Obviously we had isolated incidents, but the vast majority implemented the measures in an exemplary manner.”
KEDE stopped production
By decision of the Central Union of Greek Municipalities (KEDE), the production of masks for schools was stopped, after the “fiasco” with the huge masks given to students on the first day of the school year.
As stated by KEDE in its announcement, “it is considered necessary to reformulate the original specifications of the masks” and therefore it was requested “by the contractors of the contest to stop their production”.
In fact, as the announcement indicates, production “will restart based on the new specifications that the Ministry of Health will send us.”
Talking to in.gr, the president of KEDE, Dimitris Papastergiou, points out that “we will wait for the new specifications and until then we will not produce other masks” without there being a specific time horizon for their dispatch by the competent commission of the Ministry of Health.
Misunderstanding the specs
The General Secretariat of Public Health admitted that there was an error in the stapling and a misunderstanding in the wording of the dimensions.
In particular, he noted that “in the context of the process of resuming the school year and the safe integration of students into the school community, the relevant Committees that provide daily scientific support for the treatment of coronavirus, among other things, recommended the dimensions for the masks of students and educators “.
According to the advertisement, “the dimensions are in accordance with the respective international standards. However, they were roughly the size of the fabric before sewing and not the final size of the two types of masks. The wording of this distinction between initial and endings was not clear, so several of the masks distributed were larger than appropriate. “
The General Secretariat of Public Health emphasizes that it has clearly rewritten the correct specifications and will send them back to KEDE, which is in charge of the tender for their supply, so that the masks that will be distributed later are of the appropriate size. 
What is the response of the supplier who made the giant masks?
The suppliers of the masks, Giannis Stathopoulos, responded to the objections. As he characteristically said, “the Announcement that came to us from KEDE with instructions that they had received from a health committee had specific dimensions, fabric specifications and some details (elastic plate, cotton quality)”.
The dimensions were as follows: Ages up to 10 years 10 × 18, from 10 years old, teachers 12 × 22.
“We saw that the dimensions are large, we expressed our objections when we delivered the samples, as the samples were reviewed by a textile manufacturer and the general chemist told us to continue production.”
“We have committed ourselves to produce and not to propose. We have delivered the 500,000 masks and we are waiting for you to give us new instructions. If the new instructions are to make 500,000 masks we will need 10 days. “
Ping pong responsibilities
The Deputy Minister of Health, Vassilis Kontozamanis, referred to the alalum created with the giant masks that were made available to the students, during the periodic information on the course of the coronavirus.
Mr. Kontozamanis, after noting that Greece is the only country that has free masks for students, admitted that “there was a problem”.
The specifications, according to him, are based on international standards, but there was “a misunderstanding regarding the size of the mask before sewing and not the final size of the two masks. This will be fixed. In addition, the committee will clarify the specifications. of conditions “.
As he argued, “the standards will be the same, because they are based on international standards, these standards do not change, we do nothing different than what the rest of the world does. The next masks will be the right ones. “
He explained that what the Ministry of Health did was send the specifications to the competent authorities, which were in charge of proceeding with the tender.
For his part, the Vice Minister of Civil Protection, Nikos Hardalias, added that the responsibility for the bidding procedures rests with KEDE and the mechanism of the Ministry of the Interior.
The document
The act of the National Committee for the Protection of Public Health, which gave specific instructions and specifications for the masks to be distributed to schools, revealed the in.gr.
The document details that “the specifications of the masks, as was correct, were given (08/27/20) by the National Committee for the Protection of Public Health against the COVID-19 coronavirus. In fact, they were delivered twice, after comments that the dimensions of the masks are large. The second time it was clearly recorded that the “final product dimensions” must be 22×12 and sent to KEDE. All supply was made based on what was suggested by the National Committee for the Protection of Public Health against the coronavirus COVID-19 “.
The information in in.gr indicates that a new report with the correct dimensions for the skins has not yet been published. Also, the masks that have the wrong dimension are estimated at 200,000 maybe more. These masks will be provided and used by the faculty.
The document in detail
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