Federal Medical Association President Klaus Reinhardt publicly questions the effectiveness of everyday masks.
The anger is not only great in the State Chancellery.
There is resistance in his own organization too.
In the
Corona crisis
, the mask has long since become a daily companion.
But now the President of the
Medical Association
doubts
the usefulness of mouth and nose protection in a TV broadcast.
After much criticism, a statement from his company follows.
Munich - Markus Lanz's voice goes up.
“Seriously now?” Asks the ZDF talker.
His guest
Klaus Reinhardt
has just
explained to him that he is “not convinced” of the so-called
everyday masks
that tens of millions of Germans
wear
every day
because of the
corona pandemic *
- not least because they have to when they travel, work or want to go out to eat .
There is "no actual
scientific evidence
(...) that they are actually helpful," said Reinhardt.
"Least of all in
self-protection
and probably very little in the protection of infecting others."
None of this would be unusual.
After all, Reinhardt is not the first physician to
question
whether the mask requirement
makes
sense
.
Only none of the others were president of the German Medical Association.
President of the Medical Association on masks: Will not allow himself to be instrumentalized in the “mask war”
The
highest-ranking German medical officer continues to speak of
a
“masking requirement”
in the course of the program.
In tight spaces “I want to put up with that,” says Reinhardt.
He also does not want to become the "figurehead of the mask
opponents"
or be
instrumentalized in the "mask war"
.
But it could be too late for that at this moment.
"The way you have just expressed yourself can at least be
misunderstood,
" says Lanz.
This fear is also harbored in the Bavarian State Chancellery.
"It is more than irritating when a senior representative of the medical profession
uses
irresponsible corona denier diction
and spreads fake news," says Corona coordinator Florian Herrmann (CSU) of our newspaper.
"The mask is a
small means with a big effect
, which
enables
us
more freedom
and
more security
in the pandemic
, especially where it is difficult to
keep our
distance." For Herrmann's boss Markus Söder, it has also become a
trademark
.
The entire republic should now know the prime minister with white and blue diamonds on his face.
+
Has caused a sensation and excitement: the President of the Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, is not an everyday friend with a mask.
© Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
Medical Association President on masks: For SPD politician Lauterbach, statements are "a reason to resign"
But the state government is by no means alone with its anger.
The
SPD health
politician
Karl Lauterbach
describes the comparison of the mask requirement with a “masking requirement” as “inexcusable”.
That is "a
reason to resign
if he does not take it back immediately".
And even
Bavaria's Medical Association President Gerald Quitterer
is “not happy” about the statements made by his federal chairman.
They thwarted efforts to make patients
aware of
the
usefulness of mouth and nose protection
.
He also wears a mask outside of his everyday practice, as it makes "infectiologically sensible", Quitterer tells our newspaper.
“The aerosols
don't
fly
that far
with a mask
.
Without a mask you would be completely unprotected. ”In addition, doctors should not simply
ignore
the recommendations of the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI) *
and the“ decisions of the prescribers ”.
+
Everyday life with a mask: The new obligation during the Corona crisis is also pointed out in shop windows.
© Christof Stache / afp
In fact, Reinhardt tried to capture his statements on Thursday.
Together with his vice-presidents, he issued a
statement
in which the medical association called for “
mouth and nose protection
to be worn
in all situations in which a sufficient distance cannot be maintained”
.
For people at increased risk,
higher quality masks
could also be
useful.
“We therefore advocate
providing FFP2 masks * to high-risk patients
,” write the heads of the German Medical Association.
(Sebastian Horsch) * merkur.de and tz.de are part of the Ippen-Digital network
List of rubric lists: © Christof Stache / afp