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“At first, we did not know that some people may have no symptoms, that there are asymptomatic forms, later we also discovered that three days before the onset of symptoms, infected people clear the virus and can infect others,” Lingienė told BNS on Wednesday.
For this reason, the focus at the start of the pandemic was to inform symptomatic people about protective measures rather than encourage them to use them en masse. With new insights, this attitude later changed.
Lukas April photo / 15 minutes / Rolanda Lingiene
In Lithuania, the use of masks was mandatory at some point during the quarantine introduced this spring due to the threat of the coronavirus.
Masks are currently recommended, but the government decided on Wednesday that they will be mandatory again starting Saturday in closed public spaces, including supermarkets and public transportation.
Both during quarantine and now, the use of masks is being used to protect healthy people from being infected by those who have coronaviruses but are not yet aware of the disease.
However, Saulius Čaplinskas, head of the Center for Communicable Diseases and AIDS (ULAC), points out that wearing masks is also beneficial for healthy people, as they create a “certain barrier” when contacting a patient.
When asked why it was explained at the beginning of the pandemic in public space, both in Lithuania and abroad, that masks do not protect healthy people, therefore, they should not be used, S. Čaplinskas said he was related to “lack of protection and ignorance”.
“Perhaps people were talking so fearfully that there would be no great fuss and lack of those masks for those who need them most, or they spoke with very little knowledge. It is difficult to say, and perhaps both,” the ULAC chief told BNS.
Julius Kalinskas photo / 15min / Saulius Čaplinskas
“There is now enough research to demonstrate the effectiveness of the masks,” he added.
Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga has also said about the fact that the masks do not protect in early March.
“It does not solve anything, it is not recommended to use it because it does not protect it, I can repeat it again,” he explained then.
For a long time, the World Health Organization also did not recommend the use of masks, which changed its position in early June.
In Lithuania, those who do not comply with the requirement to wear masks as of Saturday may also face an administrative responsibility of 500 to 1.5 thousand. euros
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