"Face Masks Are Now A Public Nuisance" - H-Metro Founding Editor

Larry Moyo, a Zimbabwean journalist and the founding editor of the H-Metro tabloid newspaper has called for the removal of the wearing of face masks directive saying they have saved their purpose. 

Posting on Twitter Moyo said:

Face masks are now a public nuisance…August 1 they must fall

Zimbabwe announced in 2020 that wearing face masks was one of the various measures that should be taken to stop the spread and transmission of the coronavirus.

The government made it a punishable offence with the Infomation, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Ministry’s permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana saying one can be imprisoned for one year if they were seen in a public place without a face mask.

This was after the World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended the use of face masks.

Moyo’s remarks come as some countries are relaxing or scrapping face mask requirements. Namibia removed the face mask requirement in March 2022.

Rwanda scrapped the requirement in May while South Africa removed the measure in June.

Cases of COVID-19 have also been going down in Zimbabwe in recent months. As of 30 July 2022, Zimbabwe had 256 378 confirmed cases after only 2 new cases had been recorded on the day.

These cases included 250 316 recoveries and 5 577 deaths. A total of 6 372 958 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Proponents of the removal of the face mask requirement have been quoting Prof David Heymann, who chaired the WHO’s scientific and technical advisory group for infectious hazards, who said wearing masks is for the protection of others, not oneself. He said:

People think they are protected when they are not, People think they are protected when they are not.

The findings, made in 2020, conflicted with advice from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, which urged the US public to wear masks in public places.

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