Spanish Government Votes To Keep Face Masks Mandatory In Outside Public Places
Spain News
Published: 02 February 2022 16:04 CET
The Spanish Government has voted to keep face masks mandatory in all outside public places.
The vote, that took place on the evening of February 1, has been called controversial by the opposition who have described it as “a joke” and “blackmail”.
To enable the regulation to remain in place, the government included the subject in a package of votes, which included other issues such as the proposal for increasing pensions due to rising inflation.
Some say that the move was quite cunning, as a vote against the wearing of face masks outside, would also mean a vote against pensioners receiving extra money. The end result of the vote was 162 votes in favour, 153 against and 28 abstentions.
This action seems to have slightly tipped the balance in favour of the wearing of face masks rule, with the Basque National Party (PNV) and Valencia’s Compromís voting in favour and therefore deciding the vote. The PNV did however argue that it should actually be the regional governments who make the decision as to whether the outdoor face mask rule should remain.
PNV parliamentarian, Josune Gorospe said, “It is a political practice that is not governed by honesty.”
With EH Bildu deputy, Iñaki Ruiz de Pinedo adding that “This is the last time that we accept blackmail of this type.”
The Catalan Republican Party ERC and Mas País, whose leader Iñigo Errejón had criticised the outdoor face mask rule previously, were forced to abstain.
Left-wing Basque Party EH Bildu also reluctantly abstained, calling the vote “a trap”.
MPs belonging to opposition parties PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, who decided to vote against the passing of the bill, have described the vote as “a joke”, “a mockery”, “blackmail” and “fraudulent”.
Ciudadanos MP Guillermo Díaz said “It had to seem like they were doing something. They couldn’t think what that was so someone said 'let's just keep face masks outdoors'.”
The wearing of face masks in public was initially made compulsory in Spain in May 2020, as the country emerged from its first full lockdown.
The Spanish government then tightened the rules In March 2021, when people were then required to wear face masks in almost all indoor and outdoor settings, even if it was possible to keep a safe distance. The only exception was if the person was either eating, drinking, sunbathing, running or any other activity where it was impossible to wear one.
This caused an adverse reaction from locals and tourists who soon realised that this would mean they would have to wear a mask while sunbathing or at the pool. This led the Spanish authorities to modify the legislation in order to allow some exceptions.
Wearing a face mask outdoors when a safe distance of 1.5 metres from others could be kept wasn’t compulsory from June 26th 2021 until December 24th 2022.
The rule for wearing a face mask in outside spaces became mandatory once again at Christmas, with a high percentage of health experts questioning the measure. They argued that the move would have very little impact in reducing Omicron infections, as most of these were taking place in indoor settings.
Health Minister Darias has announced that “all the data shows that we’ve passed the peak” of Spain’s sixth coronavirus wave and that “face masks are one of the measures that help most”.
“We’re on the right track but have to be prudent, it won’t be long before we change it (the face mask legislation),” Darias concluded following the vote.
Spain has now officially reached 10 million Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began two years ago. Roughly half of these were recorded during the current sixth wave of the virus.
The fortnightly infection rate is triple what it was when outdoor face masks were reintroduced on December 24th, 2,600 cases per 100,000 compared to 700, however, the incidence rate has been dropping in recent days.
Source
https://www.surinenglish.com/spain/masks-outdoor-remain-20220202093729-nt.html
https://www.thelocal.es/20220202/spain-keeps-outdoor-face-mask-rule/
https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2022/02/02/covid-latest-spain-upholds-compulsory-face-mask-rule-in-outdoor-public-spaces/
Image Credit: Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo
