This week could be the last of the mandatory use of masks in health centers, hospitals and pharmacies. The Council of Ministers is expected to approve this Tuesday the end of the mandatory mask in health, social health and pharmacies centers, where they will become recommended, but their imperative use will be maintained in hospital areas with critical and immunocompromised patients, operating rooms and intensive care units.
Once published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), masks will become recommended and even "highly recommended" in certain environments with vulnerable people and in case of symptoms of respiratory infection.
This eliminates a mandatory rule in the health and social health fields since December 2020.
On June 23, the Ministry of Health and the councilors of the autonomous communities agreed within the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS) to support the end of the mandatory use of masks in health centers, hospitals, pharmacies and social health centers, putting an end to more than three years of mandatory use in some area due to the covid-19 pandemic.
In February, a first step was taken and Spain ended the mandatory mask on public transport given the good epidemiological evolution of the incidence of coronavirus.
It was thus removed in trains, planes, buses and subways, where it was imperative since May 2020, and its mandatory use in opticians, orthopedics and hearing aid centers was also ended.
