Starting today, Wednesday at noon, the use of a mask will be mandatory to access a health center anywhere in Spain, since the Ministry of Health will make this measure effective after notifying the autonomous communities through a communicated order, according to Sources from the portfolio headed by Mónica García have reported, and without publication in the BOE being necessary.
The communicated order is the alternative system to the publication in the BOE – which was already used on some occasions during the COVID-19 pandemic – that has been used to approve the declaration of coordinated actions that supports the decision of the Ministry of Health to impose the mask in all health centers in Spain. This decision has been made under article 65 of the law on cohesion and quality of the National Health System.
The Minister of Health has pointed out that the mandatory use of masks that comes into force today could become a “recommendation” in those communities that present data that show a decrease in acute respiratory infections in the last two weeks, and added: “We are going to adapt to the general epidemiological situation.”
Opinions on the mandatory nature of masks
After the extraordinary meeting of the Interterritorial Public Health Council on Monday ended without reaching an agreement, yesterday the Minister of Health, Mónica García asked the communities – with the exception of Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Aragon, Murcia, Asturias, the Canary Islands and Murcia, which have already implemented the measure – to adopt their proposal “with a little normality” because it is common sense “and people are already applying it in health centers even though there is no obligation.”
Several presidents of the PP, such as those of Andalusia, Castilla y León, Aragón and Murcia, have criticized the fact that the Ministry of Health intends to “impose” the mandatory use of masks in health centers, acting “late and poorly” after an epidemic of flu that has spiked during the Christmas holidays and that, according to popular opinion, has caught the minister “on vacation,” as reported by Efe.
The mandatory use of masks could become a “recommendation” in communities whose data show a decrease in acute respiratory infections in the last two weeks
Andalusia has considered that “it can be a positive measure, but always supported by health criteria”, Aragón has questioned that the ministry’s decision was not taken “thinking about the health of citizens”, but “because of the photos”, and Murcia He has reproached the Government for “the lack of dialogue.” The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, for her part, has described the Health measure as “improvisation”, and in her opinion: “Obligation like prohibition, a resource of the weak manager.”
Galicia defends the widespread use of the mask in health centers, but regrets that Health imposes the obligation without taking into account the epidemiological situation of each territory. Euskadi and Navarra, which defend the measure as a recommendation, will study the legality of the Ministry of Health’s intention.
Others, such as the Valencian Community or La Rioja, request that the return to the use of the mask be based on technical reports and the measure be adopted by consensus with the actors involved, while the Balearic Islands will impose it, but ask that each community can act based on its epidemiological status.
Extremadura has insisted that the use of the mask to avoid contagion should be a recommendation and has advocated being “more cautious” when determining its obligation.
