The cabinet must come up with a clear story on Friday, now that the urgent advice to wear a mouth mask is everywhere. So says professor of health communication Bas van den Putte. Rutte said during the debate that he will come up with a more detailed elaboration on Friday.
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Communicatively, ‘urgent mouth masking advice’ is worthless, says Bas van den Putte, professor of health communication at the University of Amsterdam. What is now crucial is an explanation of why such an obligation. The figures also show that only 46 percent think that a mouth mask will help. The cabinet will really have to explain why it is useful. In that sense, advice is very weak: if you really think it helps, you should make it mandatory. ‘
More than simple elaboration
According to Van den Putte, the cabinet should come up with more than just an elaboration of the advice. The concern of the OMT that people with a mouth mask will behave less safely, for example by keeping a distance of less than five feet, appears to be unfounded, he says. ‘That has been investigated in a few countries and no evidence has been found. People can start to feel safer, but it does little with their behavior. ‘
Listen back | Jaap Jansen | The mouth cap
The result of a still somewhat noncommittal ‘urgent advice’ is that you still keep a considerable dichotomy. While 69 percent of the people, according to the RIVM, agree with a local masking obligation. ‘That is positive from the cabinet’s point of view and you can expect it to have risen slightly. You can also see that in the research: there has been a slowly upward trend since June. ‘
Eindhoven
Mayor Jorritsma van Eindhoven would have preferred a national duty, but understands the objections. ‘I would like it to be enforceable, but I also see that there are quite some legal hooks and eyes. It is primarily about influencing behavior: you cannot put a male or female behind every measure to enforce it. I count my blessings, in recent weeks I have worked very hard for a national commandment in the public space. ‘
Jorritsma is in any case pleased with the movement that has finally started to issue a nationally urgent advice. ‘Until now, it concerned the regions of North and South Holland and I joined them. Enforceability and enforceability is very difficult if what applies to you does not apply twenty kilometers away. That is not much to choose, it cannot be explained. ‘
Listen back | Face masks all over the country
Legal right of instruction
The fact that it is not a legal obligation does not have to be a very big problem, says employment lawyer Maarten van Gelderen. ‘Employers who have to deal with the public in an accessible free space can accept the advice. They have a legal right of instruction, with which they can issue regulations and instructions if it has to do with how work is done within a company. ‘
It is a fact that a mouth masking obligation can be drastic for the public, says Van Gelderen. Yet as an employee you will also have to comply with such instructions. ‘Only if there are very special circumstances, for example due to asthma complaints, can I imagine that you will be excluded. In this way you indeed pass the hot potato on to the employers. And as soon as an employer takes the advice to heart, it is a work instruction. ‘
Listen back | Jaap Jansen | The mouth cap
Also read | Face masks all over the country
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