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/">https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl...
Completely understandable anger considering there were mask shortages in the spring for health care workers and care homes. And De Block& #39;s "it is what it is" doesn& #39;t help.

(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.
This is something countries need to do even more of. Famed virologist Peter Piot wasn& #39;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/">https://www.politico.eu/article/v...
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