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ARCHIVED - Masks are no longer required outdoors in Spain
Spain relaxes mask restrictions but they are still required inside and at large events
As of Thursday February 10, masks are no longer required outdoors in Spain, although this safety measure is still required in public indoors spaces, such as bars, restaurants and supermarkets. After reintroducing mandatory mask-wearing in December as Covid cases skyrocketed, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, celebrated the fact that the country is emerging from the punishing sixth wave and concluded that masks “have fulfilled their role,” and that Spain is now “in a position to relax measures.”
Concerts and sporting events
The first thing that the decree specifies is that masks remain mandatory at mass events that take place outdoors “when attendees are standing or, if they are seated, when a safety distance of at least 1.5 metres cannot be maintained between non-cohabiting persons or groups.
Busy streets
Masks are not required in the street, but the Spanish government still recommends their use in busy, outdoor public places when social distancing is difficult to maintain.
Public transport
Masks are still mandatory on some flights, though Jet2 and Ryanair have said they will reverse this rule, and in bus or rail transport. The obligation is also maintained in any public or private transport "for passengers in vehicles with up to nine seats, including the driver, if the occupants of the vehicles do not live at the same address."
Although they are technically open-air spaces, masks will have to be worn on train, metro and light rail platforms and stations.
Elderly residences
One of the biggest novelties of the decree is that masks are no longer compulsory in spaces that "are part of the place of residence of the groups that meet there."
In other words, the residents and staff of nursing homes or homes for the disabled don’t have to wear masks as long as more than 80% of the people who live there have been triple jabbed.
Anyone visiting these facilities will still have to wear masks.
Schools
The decree has not specified whether or not masks are mandatory in school playgrounds. Being an outdoor space, it would stand to reason that masks are not required, but in the absence of clarification, some communities are specifying their own measures.
From today, Catalonia, Extremadura, Madrid and Cantabria will scrap the obligation to wear masks in the schoolyard during recess. The Valencian Community, Castilla y León, Andalucia and Asturias are also working on a similar regulation.
Exceptions
People who have a respiratory disease “that may be aggravated by the use of the mask,” or those who have a disability due to which they do not have “autonomy to remove the mask” or if the wearing of a face shield caused “alterations in behaviour that make its use unfeasible,” are exempted.
Image: Archive
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