January 15, 2024 3.44pm
Photo: Pixabay/geralt
Spain is the first EU country to reintroduce mandatory masks after the end of the coronavirus crisis. Initially the regulation should apply to healthcare facilities, but the recommendation also extends to travel on buses, trains and shopping centres. Which countries plan to start requiring masks again?
Due to the increase in respiratory diseases such as flu and corona, masks are now mandatory again in all Spanish healthcare facilities, Spanish media reports.
Why does Spain impose mandatory masks?
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García had already tried to convince regions particularly affected by respiratory diseases to introduce compulsory masks on their own initiative. The minister justified the temporary measure with the protection of vulnerable groups of the population such as young children and the elderly, as well as healthcare workers.
The regulation applies not only to clinics and doctors’ offices, but also to pharmacies in some Spanish municipalities. “The autonomous regions that deem it appropriate can make the use of the mask mandatory,” says Kotha in the measures of the Ministry of Health.
The mask obligation in the healthcare sector was suspended in Spain at the beginning of last July, when the coronavirus situation was declared resolved, but at the same time the use of the mask was recommended in public places where many people are present . There is no obligation to wear a mask, Minister García explained on RTVE’s morning program.
“Even though Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency, the virus will continue to circulate, mutate and kill,” said WHO Health Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urging governments and the public to continue to prepare against Covid.
In Italy there are more cases of illness than during the so-called pandemic, but masks are not necessary
Spain is not an isolated case. Other EU countries are also grappling with a rise in respiratory infections. In many other countries there is an initial recommendation to wear a mask, which in most cases is not implemented.
According to the ISS, cases of respiratory infections, including influenza and Covid-19, reached record levels in Italy in the last two weeks of 2023, even exceeding the corresponding periods of the pandemic. In the last week of the year the incidence was on average 17.5 cases per 1,000 inhabitants, last week it was 17.7 cases per 1,000 inhabitants.
ISS experts say the increase in cases is likely due to the fact that most citizens no longer wear protective masks and vaccination rates are low this winter. However, according to the SKY TG24 news channel, the Italian government does not intend to reintroduce the mask requirement. However, the first health institutions have already established the corresponding obligation.
Portugal recommends wearing a mask, but initially there is no obligation
When asked about measures against the spread of the disease, Portuguese Health Minister Manuel Pizarro Castro said in a press release that the General Directorate of Health “is monitoring the development of this seasonal flu very closely”, but for the moment it limits itself to provide recommendations: “These are aimed at people who, when they are sick, must follow the rules that we hope to have learned from the pandemic. But sometimes I see that some people have already forgotten that.”
He added: “When patients are sick, you have to wear a mask, you have to wash your hands, you can’t get too close to them because that’s the responsibility you have to protect others,” radio station TSF reports. According to the Portuguese Ministry of Health, in the last week of last year the percentage of seasonal flu cases in intensive care units (ICU) was 17%.
Greece is not in favor of the forced use of masks
Also in Greece the Ministry of Health, in a special meeting with researchers from the healthcare sector, decided for the first time to recommend the use of masks in public life and especially in the healthcare system. Researchers expect a further increase in cases in the near future. They are worried about the pressure on the healthcare system, writes the Athens news agency APE/MPE. The medical association has criticized the fact that mask wearing is mandatory in healthcare facilities.
In Germany there is no general obligation to wear a mask
However, in individual cases family practices, clinics and pharmacies ask their patients to wear a mask. Even hairdressers, who often care for the elderly, are asking their customers to wear a mask in view of the current flu season and the increase in corona infections.
Institutions can also impose a corresponding obligation through their procedural rules.
On the website of the Estonian Health Authority we read: “A mask is not a limitation, but an opportunity! We recommend wearing a mask in crowded indoor spaces and on public transport, especially for risk groups.”
Source: focus.de
Translated by Sander Soomaa
2024-01-15 13:47:28
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