There has been no agreement, at least for the moment, on whether the mandatory use of the mask is agreed throughout the territory to stop the collapse of health centers due to the epidemic of respiratory viruses, especially the flu. Each community had its measurements and few shared those of their partner. So the Ministry of Health has given 48 hours for the councilors to decide on the proposal that the ministry has put on the table.
According to sources from the Ministry of Health, its proposal to mandate the use of masks in health centers is maintained, to maintain the same level of protection for all citizens and to provide legal coverage to the communities that have already done so (Catalonia, Valencia and Murcia), although its use in social health centers and pharmacies is reduced to recommendation. The communities will send their allegations to the document presented by the ministry in the next 48 hours.
According to these sources, in the meeting held this morning between the minister, Mónica García, and the advisors of the branch to analyze the respiratory virus epidemic that is affecting the majority of the territories, “they discussed and reflected on the role of the “mask, especially in health centers, hospitals and health centers to protect both patients and professionals, as an effective measure, a common sense measure, supported by scientific evidence and well received by the population.”
During the meeting, some initiatives from different communities were collected, such as the expansion of the recommendation for the use of masks in pharmacies, and a period of 48 hours was agreed upon to continue receiving contributions.
The need to provide legal support through a declaration of coordinated action to all those communities of different political colors that have already introduced the mask into their health systems has also been raised.
Madrid, again, is the one that is most against mandating its use, although there are health centers in this community that have decreed it to avoid further infections. According to sources from this community, the Minister of Health has convened an Interterritorial Council of the National Health System, “in an improvised manner, without scientific rigor and without following the procedure. What’s more, 15 minutes after starting this meeting, we received the document with the proposals that we were going to debate. Obviously, we knew some of them because he has tweeted them or exposed them in the media, which we believe is not an appropriate channel to inform the Health Ministers”.
“All Health Ministers, except Catalonia, have agreed to recommend the use of masks responsibly in the cases that are already indicated since the pandemic ended in July 2023. And of course, that is what we are going to do.” to continue applying it with scientific rigor and with the evidence that the data we have in each community gives us to protect our population,” these sources point out.
Aragón, for its part, proposed returning to the famous traffic lights so well known during the pandemic, establishing mandatory use when the incidence reaches a certain threshold. And I proposed that the moment the incidence doubles the epidemic threshold of 59 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the use of masks becomes mandatory for professionals who provide services in health, socio-health and social service centers. With this proposal, the mask would now be mandatory.
