
A report from Netherlands says 1.3M face mask supplied from China are defective - searchableguy
https://twitter.com/ShivAroor/status/1243998307669569536
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Doxin
A couple notes on the linked news source (NOS) from a dutch person. The NOS is
the national news source, it is government funded but not state operated. As
far as I can tell there's no significant bias to their reporting.

Tangentially it's a great way to learn dutch as they strive to keep the
language they use simple without simplifying the issues themselves. As you'll
note in the translation I've linked it's mostly short sentences without
complex overarching grammatical constructions.

The NOS is currently mirroring the advice RIVM provides on corona, which is
the official governmental body dealing with population health and
environmental issues.

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xzcvczx
it says Netherlands, i see no mention of New Zealand

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Doxin
Translation of the linked article:

A large part of the mouth masks that the Dutch government has imported from
China is unsound. Because the masks were already distributed to hospitals, the
Ministry of Health has recalled them.

This concerns almost half of a batch of 1.3 million so-called FFP2 masks,
600,000 pieces. Healthcare providers use it to treat critically ill patients
with Covid infection. Faulty masks put doctors and nurses at risk.

The masks have been rejected because they do not meet the safety requirements.
They do not fit well on the face or have membranes that do not function
properly -- membranes are the very fine filters that have to stop virus
particles.

"The mouth masks that are not satisfactory have been recalled," the Ministry
of Health told the NOS. The ministry cannot say with certainty whether no
doctor has worn such a mask.

Hospitals own initiative A number of hospitals had the masks tested by TNO on
their own initiative. The batch of masks was distributed across the hospitals
without being tested to see if they meet the quality requirements.

"When they were delivered to our hospital, I immediately rejected those
masks," said a person from a hospital who received a batch of defective masks.
"If those masks do not close properly, the virus particles can simply pass. We
do not use them. That is unsafe for our people."

TNO is not allowed to provide information about the results and results of the
tests. "That is contractually stipulated," said a spokesperson.

Depressing quality The rejected mouth masks are said to be of unfortunate
quality. Not of FFP2 quality nor of the lesser level of safety FFP1. "Some
sort of FFP0.8 at best," said this source.

"We received 2400 of those masks. They are still in storage, we have not used
one," says a spokesman for the Radboud umc. There it was discovered that the
caps did not fit well on the face.

A spokesperson for the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven says that the shipment
was immediately rejected. "This is not a stand-alone event, there is a lot of
junk on the market. There are people trying to take advantage of the current
crisis, at high prices."

Sterilize as an artifice The source says that the recall has been launched
head over heels to get the unsafe masks out of circulation as soon as
possible. Several other physicians closely involved in fighting the corona
outbreak are concerned about the spread of unsafe protective equipment across
the country.

There has been a shortage of good mouth masks for some time. That is why
hospitals resort to emergency solutions. They sterilize used masks and then
reuse them.

Written response from the Ministry of VWS In a written response to the NOS,
the ministry states that efforts are being made to meet the need for
protective equipment that is scarce all over the world. "Due to these
shortages, we can find ourselves in a situation where only protective
equipment is available that does not meet the highest standards. This is an
issue in all countries."

"Last Saturday, a first shipment from a Chinese manufacturer was partly
delivered. These are masks with a KN95 quality certificate. The Ministry of
VWS received a first signal that the quality of this shipment did not meet the
criteria during inspection. Part of this shipment was delivered to healthcare
providers, the rest of the cargo was immediately put on hold and was not
distributed further. "

"A second test also showed that the masks did not meet the quality standard.
It has now been decided not to use this whole shipment anymore. New shipments
will undergo an additional test."

Later in the day, the ministry indicated in an additional response that the
unsound parties were picked out by the hospitals themselves. They informed the
inspection that they then took the mouth masks.

However, the ministry could not say with certainty that no doctor has worn
such a mask or that these masks were not used in the past week before the
inspection intervened.

On the advice of the American CDC, which is the counterpart of our RIVM, the
Ministry of VWS has approved the Chinese quality standard KN95 for mouth
masks. The minister reported this earlier this week in a letter to the House
of Representatives.

