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Former Belgian Health Minister Maggie De Block is trending on Twitter for having various face masks destroyed between 2015 and 2018 because storing them was expensive. https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/10/07/pano-de-grote-maskerade/
Completely understandable anger considering there were mask shortages in the spring for health care workers and care homes. And De Block's "it is what it is" doesn't help.
(h/t to @hclae for explaining the Dutch/situation)
(h/t to @hclae for explaining the Dutch/situation)
But pre-corona, it was not an easy thing to convince politicians to invest tons of money into things that might never be used for events that might never happen, ESPECIALLY with over-stretched health care budgets across Europe.
Many countries messed this up, either not having these items or not maintaining them. Just look at France, which had masks that expired and didn't replace them: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/world/europe/france-coronavirus.html
This is something countries need to do even more of. Famed virologist Peter Piot wasn't optimistic this will happen though:
"But once a pandemic is over, there are other pressing issues [they turn to]." https://www.politico.eu/article/virus-hunter-peter-piot-age-of-pandemics/
"But once a pandemic is over, there are other pressing issues [they turn to]." https://www.politico.eu/article/virus-hunter-peter-piot-age-of-pandemics/
