COMPULSORY masks worn in indoor areas and in crowded outdoor spaces could soon be consigned to the past, and quarantining for anyone who has been in contact with a positive Covid case is no longer required.
President Pedro Sánchez, who turned 50 on either Monday or Tuesday – given that his birthday, February 29, does not exist this year – started his sixth decade with an extraordinary general meeting of his party, the PSOE (socialists), principally to discuss the war in Ukraine but addressing other items on the agenda.
These included, naturally, the Covid pandemic, and Sánchez recalled the 'formidable response' among Spain's public to the vaccine roll-out – over 90% of those offered a jab have taken it up, an 'extraordinarily-high figure'.
The result is 'one of the lowest accumulated incidences of Covid in the European Union, Sánchez revealed.
As a consequence, 'soon, very soon, when the minister of health advises us as such', the president revealed that the people of Spain would be able to stop wearing masks altogether.
Spain has long been very stringent in its mask-wearing laws; they became compulsory everywhere outside private homes - other than when travelling alone in one's car, physically eating or drinking in a bar or restaurant, taking part in energetic sports, and were even required in the open air in a deserted street - as soon as they became widely available for purchase from pharmacies and supermarkets.
This was shortly after 2020 lockdown finished in late spring, and no exceptions were permitted, except for children aged three to six for whom they were merely 'strongly recommended', and the under-threes who were advised against wearing them at all.
Last autumn, the requirement to wear a mask outdoors was scrapped, except in cases where a minimum distance of two metres could not be maintained with the next person, although the decision was briefly overturned when the Omicron variant became rife in Spain.
Even though masks stopped being mandatory again on February 8, many people still wear them out of doors as a precaution.
And it is likely that a high number will continue to wear them in shops and on public transport for the same reason – particularly in winter, as they will also help prevent them catching the common cold or 'flu as well as Covid.
It is not clear whether masks will still be required when visiting nursing homes, hospitals or GP surgeries, but Sánchez has said the decision will be made by health minister Carolina Darías, who may well decide on a gradual approach to ditching the mask.
Regional governments, in general, are reluctant to lift mask-wearing rules as yet, on the basis that until contagion incidence is low enough or the overwhelming majority of those who catch Covid do not have to be hospitalised, continuing to use masks is a sensible precaution.
But they are mostly in agreement that they should cease to be compulsory in classrooms, given that children are less likely to become seriously ill if they catch the virus, and experts in childhood have long been concerned about masks hindering little ones' development, particularly in early years when still learning to talk.
Also, from yesterday (Saturday, March 5), close contacts of Covid-positive cases are no longer required to quarantine until they get a negative test result – in fact, self-isolating ceased to become mandatory for school children some weeks back.
And from Friday just gone (March 4), sporting events can now have their full quota of spectators – as many as the venue was designed to accommodate safely, rather than a forced reduction to 50% or 75% of seats.
