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FACE MASKS

Have your say: Will you continue wearing a mask indoors in Spain?

As Spain drops its indoor face mask rule today, do you think you will continue wearing one in indoor public settings or not? Join the conversation in our latest poll.

Have your say: Will you continue wearing a mask indoors in Spain?
Will you still wear a mask indoors in Spain even though it's no longer required inside most buildings now? Photo: Alexandra_Koch/Pixabay

After exactly 700 days of mandatory face coverings, it’s no longer required by law to wear a face mask in the majority of indoor public settings in Spain, with a few exceptions such as hospitals, care homes, public transport and pharmacies. 

It’s a symbolic moment for people in Spain who for two years have been required to keep their mask when entering a bar or restaurant, sitting down to watch a film at the cinema or when doing grocery shopping at the supermarket.

READ MORE: Where do you still need to wear a mask indoors in Spain? 

The pandemic has evolved in Spain, 85 percent of the population is fully vaccinated and half have a booster shot, but the virus hasn’t completely disappeared and the fortnightly infection rate has risen slightly above 500 cases per 100,000 people after Easter. 

Spanish authorities are now giving ordinary citizens the right to decide whether or when to wear a mask in indoor public spaces. So what are you planning to do? Let us know in the poll below.

 

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HEALTH

Spain wants masks worn in hospitals as viruses surge

The Spanish government on Friday called for the wearing of masks to be obligatory in medical facilities as cases of flu and Covid-19 surge with the onset of winter.

Spain wants masks worn in hospitals as viruses surge

With the increase in respiratory infections, “we are calling” for the return of obligatory mask-wearing in hospitals and health centres, Health Minister Monica Garcia said on X, formerly Twitter.

The minister said she would bring up the subject on Monday at a meeting with regional representatives overseeing health issues.

READ ALSO: Respiratory infections soar in Spain over Christmas as hospitals struggle

The meeting would enable “coordinated public health action to be taken in the face of the epidemic spikes”.

The eastern region of Valencia and Catalonia, in the northeast, announced Friday that health professionals and patients would have to wear masks in medical facilities there.

The move came after doctors raised the alarm over mounting cases of flu as well as Covid and other respiratory ailments, particularly in the east of the country.

READ ALSO: Coughs, colds and flu: What to say and do if you fall sick in Spain

Spain only lifted the obligatory wearing of masks in high-risk facilities such as hospitals, retirement homes and pharmacies in July 2023.

Spaniards broadly complied with the obligation to wear masks during the Covid pandemic which saw the badly-hit nation adopt some of the strictest measures in the world to fight the virus.

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