Masks become mandatory in public nursing homes in the Canary Islands

Masks have become mandatory in public nursing homes and social health centers in the Canary Islands, in the face of the epidemic of respiratory infections. Following Monday's announcement by the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands of the mandatory use of masks in all health centers of the Archipelago.

In a statement, the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and current president of the Canarian Federation of Islands (Fecai), Oswaldo Betancort, announced that they have taken this step "attending to the latest data on the incidence of influenza, covid and other respiratory viruses, which currently affect more than 1,200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants".

"Effective measures are required to avoid contagion. Therefore, from the Cabildos of all the Canary Islands, unanimously, we consider it absolutely necessary for the staff and visitors of the island's social health centers to wear masks compulsorily until further notice," he explained.

This measure will be temporary, while the epidemic peak of influenza and coronavirus infections lasts, and is in addition to the mandatory wearing of masks also in health centers, peripheral clinics and public and private hospitals that has been in force since this Tuesday throughout the Canary Islands.

"Our obligation," said the president of the Federation of Islands, "is to ensure the safety of our elderly and dependent people, as they are part of the most vulnerable groups." In addition, Betancort stressed that we must "be prudent and supportive, and take care of the people we love most by wearing masks to avoid possible infections."

The Fecai also recalls that vaccination against influenza and coronavirus is the "most effective means to avoid contracting or transmitting the disease" and joins the recommendation to other protection measures such as "hand hygiene, increase ventilation of rooms or stay at home if you have symptoms compatible with influenza or covid-19."