Laurence Dollimore
FACE masks continue to be mandatory in all health centres in Andalucia, despite rates of flu and Covid dropping dramatically in recent weeks.
An Olive Press reader was today turned away from their appointment with a family doctor in Marbella.
They told the Olive Press: “He told me to go away and come back with a mask. I said I would run down and grab one but he said he would have to see me over an hour later.
“He warned me that ‘it is still a rule’ in the whole region and that local police had been ‘doing inspections’ to find people breaking the rule and that he or I could be fined.”
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It is not reported how much a person can be fined for refusing to wear a mask inside a health centre, but similar rules during Covid dictated the sanction could start from €100 and surge up to €6,000 for repeat and serious offenders.
Last Friday, the Junta said the mask rule would likely be in force ‘for another week’ if the rates of respiratory illnesses continued to fall.
“We are at an incidence rate of 379 per 100,000 inhabitants and we have been reducing that incidence for two weeks. But we are going to continue for another week with the mandatory use of the mask,” said the Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Catalina Garcia.
It means if all being well, the measure should be lifted by Saturday.
