Coronavirus news

When will face masks in pharmacies cease to be obligatory?

Not everyone wears one anyway

Face masks in pharmacies in Mallorca and Spain continue to be obligatory

Not all customers bother wearing masks anyway. | Archive

Andrew EdePalma29/04/2023 09:28

Many pharmacies in Mallorca don't insist that customers wear face masks. For months, and pharmacies admit this, the rule that masks are mandatory has been unenforceable. While some residents do abide by the rule, others do not. As for visitors, the overwhelming majority will have no idea that there is this rule.

Last Monday, Fernando Simón, the director of the Health Alerts and Emergencies Coordination Centre, said the requirement for masks in pharmacies will "soon" be withdrawn from pharmacies, though he believes that "it would not hurt" to maintain the rule for health centres.

The view of the College of Pharmacists in the Balearics is that "you still have to be careful". "Although the situation is not like that of last year, you have to be careful in pharmacies, because it is the main point where people with suspected contagion go."

In pharmacies themselves, staff aren't so convinced. José Miguel Espallargas, a pharmacy assistant in Palma, says that the mask "was a very necessary measure at the time", but he now believes that it is unnecessary. "Pharmacies were very strict with prevention measures, but now I don't feel that it is needed. The virus has mutated and given rise to much milder forms of contagion."

Gloria Rodríguez from the same pharmacy argues that there is no need. "People who come here leave the pharmacy, take off their masks and go into a supermarket or onto a bus full of people. It doesn't make sense that the only place that masks are required is here."

Also in News

Spain at boiling point over eggs!

Protest for the right to housing in Palma, Mallorca

Now there's a proposal for a fifteen-year residency requirement to buy a home in the Balearics

The Hampshire II, off Palmanova. Photos: Joan Llado.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe's $150 million super yacht is reunited with Mallorca

A Good Friday. Britain's biggest cruise ship heads for Palma for Easter

2 comments

To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in

Stan The Man | about 1 year ago

The majority of people who need to go to a Pharmacia, have a need for medications for their health problems. To protect their Staff wearing a face mask is a very useful method of preventing their Staff from getting any infections. So I would like to see the continued use of the masks to protect the staff and their customers.

Answer

I like it10

I don't like it6

Jason D | about 1 year ago

How did the people get masks when this charade all started?? They had to enter the pharmacy unmasked

Answer

I like it7

I don't like it12