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ARCHIVED - Mask debate heats up in Spain: government suggests scrapping the measure before Easter
Any decision to remove indoor masks in Spain before Easter would go against the advice of health experts
It’s one of the last big Covid restrictions that affect daily life in Spain and arguably the most controversial, as the experts have been arguing for months about the correct time to scrap wearing masks indoors in Spain. So far, the Minister of Health has limited herself to abstract comments such as the fact that there is “one day less” of the restriction, but the director of the Centre for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES), Fernando Simón, ruffled several political feathers on the matter last week.
It’s no secret that the experts of the Alerts Report have been working tirelessly, gathering “technical” data on the best time to do away with indoor masks, but on Thursday March 31, Mr Simón openly suggested that the “correct” period to make this decision would be 15 days, right before Easter in other words.
The experts emphatically disagreed with him, and the director was heavily criticised for pushing the government agenda to get rid of masks before Holy Thursday, a move many consider to be a “political decision” based on the interests of politicians rather than the interests of public health.
This argument is nothing new; Madrid, with one of the lowest incidence rates in the country, has been pushing for the removal of masks for weeks while the more conservative Basque Country government feels they should stay. For the most part, though, the autonomous communities are happy to defer to the opinion of the experts, whose report on the subject is nowhere near complete.
It’s worth noting that the central government and the community leaders have ignored the opinions of their Public Health experts on many occasions since the pandemic began, but for now it’s understood that the next debate on indoor masks will be held when the Interterritorial Council meets in Toledo on Wednesday March 6.
Now read: How to get a Covid passport and How to make an appointment for a vaccination or booster jab in Spain
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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