A week ago, the Minister of Health assured that the end of the mask on public transport was getting closer. Seven days later, in an act held together with the Gasol Foundation, she has confirmed that she will no longer be mandatory in early February. Its use will only continue to be imperative in healthcare settings.
Carolina Darias has revealed that, On February 7, the Council of Ministers will approve the end of the mandatory nature of masks on public transport because “we have a very stable epidemiological situation. The proposal that Ponencia de Alertas (the body made up of experts who advise the Ministry of Health) has already made will be submitted to the Council of Ministers”.
Everything indicates that the measure will enter into force a day later, on February 8, when the change that they must carry out in the Royal Decree, which regulates the use of the mask on public transport, is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). From that moment on, it will no longer be mandatory on subways, trams, buses, taxis, VTC, trains and planes.
ahead of schedule
At the end of the year, the Ministry of Health explained that they considered eliminating the mandatory nature of the mask on public transport in March 2023. A date that had not been marked randomly: it marks the end of the season of acute infections. Since then they have continued to observe the epidemiological situation and its evolution with a favorable prognosis: the recommendation of the Alert Report and the good data have pushed them to bring forward the end of the mask.
The truth is that compliance with the regulations that required wearing masks on public transport was being relaxed. It was, for a long time, the only restriction… despite the fact that the epidemiological situation in Spain is stable: Neither the opening of the borders with China (a country that has suffered a strong wave of coronavirus), nor Christmas have resulted in a rebound in infections.
Mandatory in certain places
Next week, the Ministry of Health will meet with the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System to communicate the decision made to the autonomous communities on the end of the mandatory nature of masks in public transport. It will be a purely informative meeting because this rule is regulated by a Royal Decree, so its reform is solely the responsibility of the Government.
the mask It will continue to be mandatory in all health centers (health centers, surgeries, clinics, hospitals…) and also in pharmacies. Its use will be recommended on public transport and, in the rest of the scenarios, the responsibility will fall on the citizens, who must be aware of when it will be necessary: if they have symptoms, if they are going to be with vulnerable people…
Of course, the Ministry of Health recalls that with any worsening of the situation, the mask may once again be mandatory. The World Health Organization (WHO), for its part, continues to advise the use of the mask in large events and in all closed spaces. However, this Friday he is holding a meeting to analyze whether the Covid-19 remains an international health emergency: something that he decreed three years ago, on January 30, 2020.