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ARCHIVED - Masks remain mandatory outdoors in Spain
Sánchez accused of “blackmailing” his way to a mask extension
On Tuesday February 1, Congress in Spain voted to maintain the decree which makes the use of face masks outdoors mandatory, despite several politicians accusing President Sánchez of resorting to “blackmail” to get the law passed. The pension reform was included in the same vote as the mask extension, and those present couldn’t approve one without the other.
The Spanish government passed a decree making masks compulsory outdoors where a safety distance can’t be maintained right before Christmas when Covid numbers were skyrocketing, a measure that many now consider “useless”.
No end date has been set for the mask regulation, but the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has reiterated that it is strictly a “temporary” measure which will be reviewed “very soon” as the coronavirus situation evolves.
Although Spain has now surpassed 10 million infections since the beginning of the pandemic, the 14-day cumulative incidence rate has dropped well below 3,000 cases, a sure sign that “we have bent the curve and we are in the decline phase,” according to the minister.
For now at least, everyone over the age of six will have to wear a mask in open spaces unless they can keep a distance of 1.5 metres. People practicing individual sport or those with respiratory illnesses are exempt, and masks are not required in “natural spaces” such as in the countryside or on the beach.
President Sanchez has once again come under fire for forcing the vote at the same time as the revaluation of pensions. The government head has been accused of employing a “filibuster” so that parties who would have opted to drop the mask rules would then also have voted against increasing pay for pensioners in April.
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