Since last Wednesday, April 20, the use of a mask indoors in Spain is not mandatory, after the Council of Ministers approved it and the decree law was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), but with some exceptions: the mask must be worn in health centers, in social health centers and in public transport and taxis.
Despite this, the Ministry of Health urges to make a “responsible use” of the mask, especially in crowds and to protect the most vulnerable, that is, pregnant women, immunosuppressed people and those over 60 years of age. Masks continue to be useful, both for individual and collective protection. In fact, some experts such as Marcos López Hoyos believe that wearing a mask indoors is a measure that should be maintained. as collected 20 minutesLópez Hoyos recommends continuing to use the face mask so that a new wave “is not as important as the Christmas one”.
For Vicente Martín, professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health and member of the COVID group of the Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians (Semergen), we must pay attention to the places where we decide to remove our mask because “in those places where less cubic meters per person is touched, the greater the risk of getting sick and infecting uss”, he declares to the aforementioned medium.
Based on a recent study published in NatureMartín recommends keeping the masks in the gyms, since “people run, exhale, have a higher respiratory rate, with more power they generate more aerosols”. Also in the restaurants, bars, hotels, second-hand markets, religious services and pet stores.
FFP2 protects for 25 hours indoors
According to a graph made by The country Based on data from the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), an infected person wearing an FFP2 mask in a closed, unventilated space it would take 25 hours to infect a healthy if this one also has an FFP2. In the event that none of them wore a mask, the infection would occur in just 15 minutes.
López continues to recommend the use of the mask, not only for those with symptoms related to COVID, also for people with catarrhal or flu-like symptoms, so that they do not expel fluids and infect the environment. For Martín, the FFP2 mask is the most effective because “it closes, it makes a vacuum and contagion is very difficult although it also depends on the amount of virus in the environment.