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ARCHIVED - Spanish government maintains optional wearing of facemasks outdoors
Accusations of irresponsibility rain in from political opponents as Covid incidence rates continue to rise
In the face of rising coronavirus incidence rates and strong allegations of “irresponsibility” from various of the country’s 17 regional governments, the Spanish government succeeded in maintaining its policy of making the wearing of facemasks in outdoor areas optional rather than obligatory in Congress on Wednesday.
Masks are therefore not obligatory outdoors unless people find themselves in circumstances where it is impossible to maintain social distancing, while in indoor public spaces they are still compulsory for all those aged 6 and over.
Defending the relaxation of this anti-pandemic measure, Carolina Darias, the Minister for Health, justified it on the grounds that the majority of people being infected during the fifth wave are young, and are therefore less likely to develop serious illness. Nonetheless, the latest daily update produced by the Ministry shows that the strain on hospitals is continuing to increase as more and more Covid patients require admission.
Many regional governments have expressed profound disagreement, and the vote in Congress was in doubt with the PP party voting against the government and members representing ERC and PNV abstaining after the move introduced on 26th June was debated. PP representative Elvira Velasco referred in her contribution to the EU’s warning a month ago that the Delta variant was becoming more widespread and the recommendation that mask-wearing should continue to be obligatory in public, alleging that the government’s “irresponsibility” has placed at risk the health of families and individuals all over Spain.
In the end, though, the government won the day, maintaining that the speed with which the coronavirus vaccination campaign is progressing is sufficient to safeguard the population. According to the latest Ministry of Health data, the number of people in Spain who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus has reached 24,700,450, equivalent to 52.1 per cent of the population, while almost 27 million people (or 63.1 per cent of the population) have received at least one vaccine dose.
On the other hand, Sra Darias repeated her calls for people to behave responsibly and to carry a mask with them at all times, putting it on when social distancing becomes difficult.