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Five days before Christmas Eve, the government and the Swedish Public Health Agency presented a comprehensive package of stricter measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. One of them was that travelers are advised to wear mouth guards on public transportation.
Recommendations apply from and with January 7, but the regional public transport authorities, and probably many travelers, are awaiting clarification. This particularly applies to the Public Health Agency notification that public transport must “provide free mouth protection to travelers who do not bring their own”. The Svensk Kollektivtrafik trade association predicted this would be a gigantic challenge and in a meeting with the Public Health Agency on December 22, the authority was asked to reconsider.
– We believe that oral protection is good, but we do not know of any other country where the responsibility of providing oral protection has been placed on the organizers, but it is the responsibility of the travelers to bring it. We believe it is reasonable to do the same in Sweden, says Mattias Adell, Acting Managing Director of Swedish Public Transport.
See several reasons to hold travelers accountable.
– Maybe a million trips are made in a weekday. If travelers find that they do not need to wear mouth guards themselves, therefore we must provide plenty of mouth guards on all trains, buses, trams and on the subway. It’s pretty obvious that it won’t work.
More reasonable are the travelers Whoever forgot can go to a locker or similar to pick up or buy mouth guards, continues Mattias Adell.
Svensk Kollektivtrafik also warns of the risk of mouth guards in short supply if transport companies want to keep large stocks.
– Nobody wants to take resources out of care and nursing, which mouth guards need better, says Mattias Adell.
Hopes of Swedish public transport also that the information becomes so clear that it does not leave much room for interpretation. It’s said that the mouthguard requirement should apply on weekdays during rush hour, but it’s a pretty vague concept, according to Adell, who also at that time wants to see passengers take responsibility and wear the mouthguard as soon as gets congested, or during all trips.
Until the Public Health Agency has given notice, they are responsible for public transportation on hold.
– We hope to have contacted us with our messages. But if it is the case that the autonomous public transport authorities will have a large number of mouth guards available until January 7, it is quite urgent, says Mattias Adell.
A message from the Public Health Agency is likely to arrive on Wednesday.
– What is planned, and what is being intensively worked on now, is to present the guidelines on how public transport should handle the oral protection requirement at certain times, says Sabina Bossi, press secretary of the Swedish Public Health Agency .
