When Greece’s epidemiologists and the country’s Education Ministry agreed on the compulsory use of face masks in schools, teachers and parents demanded the masks be distributed free of charge.
Ultimately, the Ministry promised that each student will be given one free mask.
But let’s just say parents and children got more than they bargained for on the first day back at school on Monday, with the government issuing oversized masks, making it difficult to even see.
The epic fail has gone viral on social media, with parents posting pictures of their kids with the huge face masks on.
One post from Dr Panagiotis Papanikolaou, a Neurosurgeon at the General Hospital of Nikea-Piraeus, writes: “Those who bought these school masks want to buy frigates and airplanes. I rest my point.”
In an attempt to respond to the fiasco, the General Secretariat of Public Health, after pointing out that the appropriate dimensions were set by the Scientific Committees, goes on to say that a “mistake” was made in distinguishing between the dimensions before and after the stitching.
“The dimensions are in accordance with the respective international standards. However, they were about the size of the fabric before it was sewn and not the final size of the two types of masks,” a statement from the General Secretariat reads.
“The wording of this distinction between the initial and final dimensions was not clear, with the result that a number of the masks distributed were larger than appropriate.”
The Greek Interior Ministry paid 6.5 million euros for the masks, which were distributed to schools by the Federation of Greek Municipalities KEDE.
No word yet on whether new ones will be ordered.
