Sánchez announces that masks will no longer be mandatory on June 26 outdoors

This will be the last weekend with mandatory use of a mask in public space in Spain.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Friday that the measure against the pandemic will decline on June 26, after its approval in an extraordinary Council of Ministers next Thursday.

The announcement was made by Sánchez at the beginning of his speech at the closing of the annual sessions of the Círculo de Economía in Barcelona.

“We are getting closer to normal every day. We want the economy to recover and be a fair and lasting recovery, ”said the president in his speech at the

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. Spain thus follows the path set by states such as France, which since last Thursday no longer requires wearing a mask on the street. "This will be the last weekend with masks in the outdoor spaces," he added.

For Spaniards to walk with their faces uncovered, it is necessary to repeal article 6 of Law 2/2021, of March 29, which establishes the mandatory nature of outdoor and indoor masks, regardless of the distance, until the pandemic ends. .

According to the jurists consulted, the Government will have to approve a royal decree-law that annuls the norm and that will require the endorsement of Congress within 30 days of its approval.

From the 26th it will be possible to go without a mask in outdoor spaces as long as the safety distance of 1.5 meters can be maintained with people outside the nearest social bubble, according to the technical documents that the autonomous communities have agreed with the Ministry of Health.

More information

• Health and communities finalize the relaxation of outdoor masks whenever there is 1.5 meters of distance

The voices that had been calling for the end of outdoor masks were growing.

The measure, which in itself is of doubtful use when there are no people around, was increasingly answered as vaccination increases and it is found that the accumulated incidence falls without stopping, even after lifting the state of alarm and relaxing many restrictions social.

In the opinion of Antoni Trilla, professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Barcelona, ​​"it is a good time to remove them as long as it is well explained", given the epidemiological situation and high temperatures. “When you go outdoors more or less alone or walking in bubbles it can be removed, but in a tail, for example, it is better to put it on. It is also not advisable to stay in contact with other people for long [if you are not wearing it]. Indoors it will be important to continue with them ”, he says.

Manuel Franco, spokesman for the Spanish Society of Public Health (Sespas), is of the same opinion as the professor, and believes that it will be a "social joy" to be able to do without this protection outdoors.

"It is something that had to be done sooner or later and that is supported by increasing scientific evidence that indicates closed places as places of greater risk of contagion," he concludes.

There are also voices opposed to eliminating the mandatory nature of face masks.

Jesús Aguirre, Health Minister of Andalusia, the community with the highest incidence of the pandemic, assured on Thursday in an interview on Canal Sur that he does not contemplate relaxing its use until mid-July or early August.

“It is a debate that I do not like because we create a false expectation of relaxation.

We don't gain anything, just lower our guard, ”he said.

In this sense, Clara Prats, a researcher from the group of computational biology and complex systems at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), points out that although the probability of becoming infected when the distance is kept outdoors is "practically nil", now it will be necessary to have Keep in mind that when we meet someone to talk or enter a closed place, you have to put it back on. “If they are mandatory at all times, it is something that is not necessary. From now on we will need mechanisms that guarantee that we carry it whenever it is recommended, ”says the researcher, who, however, is in favor of relaxing the norm.

In principle, repealing the mandatory nature of masks does not mean that each community cannot regulate their use and be more restrictive. The measures imposed for the entire country have always been minimal: regional governments have sometimes not been able to be more lax, but they have been more demanding. The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, did not respond to journalists last Wednesday when asked about this possibility. "It will [eliminate the obligation] according to the legal framework and in coordination with the autonomous communities," he settled.