Spain is considering easing rules on wearing face masks outdoors, as early as in mid-June, officials said on Monday, as falling transmission and rising vaccination rates have lowered the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Masks have been mandatory indoors and out across most of Spain, regardless of social-distancing, since last summer.
But daily case numbers and the nationwide infection rate have been declining for months and nearly 40% of the population has received at least one vaccine shot, prompting some authorities to reconsider the rules.
After the capital Madrid and the central region of Castilla la Mancha said they were considering easing restrictions, Spain's health emergency chief Fernando Simon said wearing masks outdoors might not be needed in the near future.
"If the (situation) evolves as it is currently doing ... I believe it could be feasible that the mask would not be needed in outdoor open spaces in mid or late June and very likely, almost with (absolute) certainty, at the end of July," he told a news briefing.
Simon, who defended a national approach to easing restrictions rather than a regional one, said it could even be possible to relax the use of masks indoors among highly vaccinated groups before the end of July.
Castilla la Mancha's leader Emiliano Garcia-Page had said earlier his region was determined to abolish the obligation to wear face masks in open spaces before the rule's anniversary in July but added he was seeking a nationwide approach.
His Madrid counterpart, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, who won a landslide election this month after campaigning on looser pandemic restrictions, said her administration was considering a similar move.
Spain's infection rate as measured over the past two weeks fell to 121 cases per 100,000 on Monday, nearly halving since the end of April, although with sharp regional disparities.
Spain's tally of cases rose by 9,732 to 3.68 million from Friday while the death toll climbed by 70 to 79,905, Health Ministry data showed.
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Masks outside if fine. It's masks indoors that important, once you stop wearing masks in a shopping centre thats when things get bad. Also physical contact should be stopped, all this hugging and cheek kissing can only lead to higher transmission rates. The vaccine is a temporary stop gap soon we will have to face this thing head, there will be deaths but we can't live in fear all our life.
Masks achieve nothing. Covid-19 warriors stay at home with your paranoia lock your doors and seal your windows. And let the rest of us carry on.
total Madness by Spain. going from. torch restriction to more or less no restrains in a matter of weeks ! Spain will pay a big price for this in 2/3 months. meanwhile Uk is considering to postpone loosening restrictions, France has massively increased restrictions, Germany and Austria as well, etc etc. does not take a politician to know by doing the opposite and loosening all much to quickly and gradually what the outcome will most likely be, considering the low levels of vaccination, and no one shot does not protect sufficiently ! it needs two and still allows one to get infected and spread covid ! , so even if a plan e of fully vaccinated tourists arrives they still can spread covid to others who are not vaccinated in the country where they are on vacation and also bring it back to the Uk . I am all for getting back to normal, but with caution and not reckless as the current government here is doing, which will mean we all will be back in lock downs for autumn and winter again...
Is this wise? No-one likes wearing a mask in the heat, but when you have a situation as published today by the UK gov, where cases in the UK increased a little over 7000 last week alone, almost doubling the week previously of Indian variants. Do we ignore? As we are allowing non PCR British travellers, personally I feel either re-introduce valid testing or continue masks.