During last Christmas, when there was an increase in infections due to the Omicron variant, the Government of Spain decided in Interterritorial Council recover the use of a mask outdoors.
A measure that was recovered when the accumulated incidence in our country also increased, which is now above three thousand cases per hundred thousand inhabitants. Now, Congress must revalidate this part of the royal decree in which the measure was included. However, in a scenario in which, as pointed out by the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, everything points to “we have defeated the sixth wave”, the situation with masks could change.
In Denmark, for example, Masks will no longer be worn outdoors or indoors, and even the restrictions for nightlife and hospitality will be eliminated, in what they consider the first step to return to normality. France announced the end of the mask for next Wednesday, February 2, and in the United Kingdom Boris Johnson announced the end of the mandatory mask days ago.
“It is a measure that has no use”
However, some experts believe that the wearing the mask outdoors is a “useless” measure and they even point to the possibility that the mandatory use of it will be withdrawn once the incidence and the daily number of infections decrease.
In this sense, it was pronounced Jesús Molina Cabrillana, spokesperson for the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene. “It is a measure that has no use.”. Similarly, he argued about the usefulness of the COVID certificate that some communities requested to enter certain spaces and that finally, they decided to withdraw once the incidence decreased.
On the other hand, the specialist in Public Health Martinez Olmos He expressed that this measure should be eliminated, although he considers that it should not be done yet. “Until the sixth wave bends, it is premature to remove restrictions”.
New strategy in pandemic surveillance
Health reported last week of the application of a new surveillance method for the pandemic, which will become emergency surveillance caused by COVID-19 to “another for objectives and of better quality than the current one”. However, it must still be discussed together with the autonomous communities and before that, in Brussels with the rest of the countries of the European Union.
The latest vaccination data offered show that almost 91% of the target population has the complete vaccination schedule. More than 15 million booster doses have been inoculated and with respect to the vaccination of children under 12 years of age, 55% of boys and girls have already received their first dose of Pfizer.