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ARCHIVED - Could the days be numbered for mandatory masks in Spanish pharmacies and hospitals?
Many health experts in Spain agree that mask-wearing in chemists should be scrapped “soon”
More than three years on from the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the vast majority of anti-Covid safety measures have been scrapped but as we hurtle towards the stifling heat of summer, one restriction remains: facemasks.
This time last year the Spanish government decided face coverings were no longer compulsory indoors, to the great relief of most people, and since February 2023 masks don’t need to be worn on public transport. But when will facemasks disappear from hospitals and pharmacies?
Opinions are somewhat divided, but one key figure throughout the pandemic, Fernando Simón, believes masks should be eliminated from pharmacies “soon”. However, Simón, the director of the Health Alerts and Emergencies Coordination Centre also conceded that “it wouldn’t hurt” to keep them in health centres for another while.
“In Spain, the position is that we should try to use masks in healthcare centres and services as a general rule, regardless of whether there is Covid or not, and from there exceptions can be made or particular situations can be assessed,” the Ministry of Health said recently in a statement.
While the responses are rather vague, Simón has stressed that it makes sense to keep masks in hospitals and health settings where a large proportion of the population is vulnerable to infection, but to do away with them in other environments.
The Spanish Society of Immunology agrees. Face coverings played an important role when the incidence of the virus was very high, the experts said, but now that we seem to have come out the other side, “The use of masks has practically no importance because it is something that is not worn continuously and throughout the day we will have the opportunity, at home or elsewhere, to get infected.”
However, given the recent post-Easter upsurge in cases here in Spain and elsewhere and the threat of yet another variant, other specialists are more reticent, preferring to wait on a definitive decision from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It’s worth noting that Spain was the very last country in the EU to scrap masks indoors and it’s well behind several other nations that have already eliminated them in health settings. And given that the Ministry recently spent 50,000 euros on surgical masks for its staff, it’s quite possible that we could be wearing facemasks for some time yet.
In other news: Two dead and 10 injured in horrific Madrid restaurant fire
Image: Pixabay
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