Spain’s Andalucia in favour of wearing masks until at least August

ANDALUCIA remains in favour of wearing a mask in outdoor spaces until at least August—despite move by central government to end mandatory outdoor wearing of masks on Saturday, June 26.

Junta chief, Juanma Moreno, has recommended citizens to wear masks ‘whenever they can’ and has reminded that the Junta is in favour of keeping them on, at least until August.

In an interview on Canal Sur Radio, Moreno explained that the decision taken by Pedro Sánchez’s government on the removal of masks in outdoor spaces—social distancing permitting—will be respected and complied with, but that the Junta ‘is not going to force anyone to remove them’.

Moreno has called for ‘flexibility’ and for the use of the mask to be adapted to the incidence of each community, especially in those communities which exceed the rate of 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, such as Cantillana and Herrera in Sevilla.

Andalucia in general has a much higher incidence rate of the virus, 176.2 last Saturday, than the national average of 96 per 100,000 inhabitants, for this reason Moreno has said that that the regions should have been involved in the central government’s decision to end mandatory outdoor wearing of masks.

“This type of decision should have been taken by common agreement,” he said.

Conversely, Moreno has also argued that the incidence rate of the virus is no longer proportional to hospitalisations due to the effect of the vaccine.

Despite the fact that the 14-day cumulative number of infections per 100000 inhabitants remains high, the level of admissions and ICU is ‘among the lowest ever’, meaning the hospital pressure has eased across the region.

In fact, Moreno has said that the cumulative incidence rates as a variable ‘is starting to become obsolete’ and recommends that other factors should be taken into account with future decision making.

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