Corona pandemic: Around 20 million unusable masks are stored in Baden

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Disused protective mask: supplies would be there in Baden-Württemberg, but not always meet the standard (symbol image)

Photo:

snapshot-photography / T.Seeliger / imago images / Seeliger

Almost 20 million masks in the holdings of the state of Baden-Württemberg are currently unusable because they do not quite meet the standards.

"A total of 15.2 million masks from state procurement from 2020 and 2021 are locked in the camp," confirmed Markus Jox, spokesman for the Ministry of Social Affairs, the SPIEGEL.

The "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" had previously reported.

According to the information, there are also around 4.6 million masks procured by the federal government, which are also still in the warehouse and have been blocked due to inspections by DEKRA.

Jox said: "So far, the federal government has not told us how to deal with the poorly tested masks."

All mask types that were purchased in 2020 were checked in February.

In addition, the country procured masks made in Germany in 2021.

"These masks were also intensively and meticulously quality-tested by DEKRA," emphasized Jox.

In some cases, defective masks were found that were not distributed.

The necessary documents and certificates were submitted in advance by the suppliers.

"The standard-compliant quality of the masks was guaranteed, but not maintained," said the spokesman.

The deviations from the norm are, among other things, about "increased breathing resistance" or "too great a leak (tightness)".

According to the information, the country is now negotiating with manufacturers and suppliers about what will happen to the masks.

In some cases, Baden-Württemberg requires the delivery of flawless masks or the reversal of business.

The state asserts claims against the contracting parties in all cases.

Since the proceedings are ongoing, he is currently unable to provide any information about the amount of claims for damages, according to Jox, but they are "optimistic that we will win the pending legal disputes."

Countries are dropping millions of masks

SPIEGEL reported on Friday that millions of masks had been sent back in several federal states.

Schleswig-Holstein sent back 3.7 million pieces - because of "various quality defects" or suspicions about them.

Bavaria checked 72,000 masks from the Chinese manufacturer Yi-Cheng, which came from the federal government, and then banned them.

Berlin re-tested and since then has an unspecified number of presumably unusable federal masks in stock.

According to an NDR report, the state of Lower Saxony wants to return 17 million corona masks to the federal government because of incorrect information.

These are 12 million surgical masks and five million FFP2 masks, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Social Affairs.

On Friday, an NDR report initially spoke of four million masks.

"The reason for the return is the incorrect documentation," said the spokesman.

The country checked the documentation and the test documents for the masks.

Sometimes the masks did not match the information on the boxes.

Some masks would also have shown visible defects.

Technically, the masks have not been checked.

Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) had come under fire in the past few days because it was said that he wanted to have masks that had not been tested according to high standards distributed to facilities for people with disabilities or for the homeless.

Spahn rejected the allegations.

Fok / dpa