Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia announced on Wednesday that masks are now mandatory in health centres across the country due to a sharp rise in viral infections.
The flu especially has seen a sharp spike in recent weeks and it is causing tension in hospitals and healthcare clinics.
Already nearly a third of Spain’s regions introduced local requirements to wear masks, most of which went into effect this week or last week. However, other regional governments have expressed their opposition. For instance, Fernando Lopez Miras, president of Murcia, called the measure “bad and virus surgelate.”
“What isn’t right is that the minister had her vacations over Christmas and then, by the time this week comes around, now she wants to impose masks.”
President of the Madrid Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, also criticised the “imposition,” saying it was “improvised” and a sign of “weak management.”
The government’s proposal was initially rejected by regional governments on Monday. However, two days after receiving the proposals to governments across the country, Garcia announced that masks would be mandatory in all health facilities unless the regions could prove that infection rates were declining for at least two weeks.
In pharmacies, wearing masks will be recommended but not mandatory.
Numerous experts predict that flu and viral infections will reach their peak in Spain in the coming days or weeks. Several Spanish medical associations have already complained that emergency and primary care services are overwhelmed due to a lack of resources and a surge in viral infections.
Pascual Pinera, vice president of Spain’s emergency medicine society (SEMES), stated last week that Spain’s emergency departments had 35 per cent more patients this season compared to the previous one.
