The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has announced that the Ministry and the autonomous communities have agreed to review the 'new normality' law, which establishes the mandatory use of masks despite being able to maintain a safe distance.
In a press conference after the meeting of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), the minister announced that a technical review of this measure will be carried out to propose proposals at the CISNS meeting next week.
The text of the law, published this Tuesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and which came into force this Wednesday, states that the obligation for people, from the age of six, to wear masks in public places, outdoors and in any closed space for public use or that is open to the public, even if the safety distance of 1.5 meters is maintained, remains in place until the end of the pandemic. A fact that has generated controversy and confusion in the Canary Islands since, according to the national regulations, it would be necessary to wear a mask even to sunbathe.
"We have to find a solution because what we have to do is have common sense while preserving health", said this Wednesday the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, who understands that if a person maintains the minimum distance or is alone on a beach and respects all other anti-covid measures, they could not use the mask when bathing or sunbathing, as long as they are not moving along the beach, when they should wear it.
Hoteliers in the Canary Islands have also spoken out about the use of masks on the beach, asking for the rule to be modified. "Making the use of masks mandatory now in areas where the few tourists we have converge, such as the beaches of the Canary Islands, seems to us to be something untimely, which makes no sense, unless it is shown that it is in these places where the greatest contagions occur", said the president of Ashotel, Jorge Marichal.
Thus, it was expected that the Minister of Health would clarify this Wednesday the use of masks on beaches and swimming pools, given also the beginning of Holy Week. However, the possible revision of the rule will not be discussed until next week, as Darias has pointed out.
In any case, the mask will not be required for people who have some type of illness or respiratory difficulty that may be aggravated by the use of the mask or who, due to their situation of disability or dependence, do not have the autonomy to remove the mask, or have behavioral alterations that make its use unfeasible.
