ARCHIVED - Facemasks no longer obligatory outside in Spain as of 26th June

Prime Minister Sánchez announces the relaxation of the anti-pandemic law a week in advance

Weeks of speculation regarding a possible lifting of the legal requirement to wear facemasks in public throughout Spain was ended on Friday morning by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who announced that the obligatory anti-pandemic measure will at last be relaxed on Saturday 26^th June.

Despite opposition from various regional health authorities, notably those of Andalucía and the Basque Country, an extraordinary meeting of Cabinet will be held on Thursday 24^th June to approve the move, Sr Sánchez stated.

The announcement is almost certain to draw strong criticism from some quarters, and surveys suggest that at least a third of all Spaniards will continue to wear masks in certain situations.

Full details of exactly where masks will still be required have not been given; the PM made his surprise announcement at the closure of a meeting of an economic group in Barcelona.

The only details available at the moment are that masks will no longer be obligatory in open-air spaces in which a 1.5 metre social distance  can be maintained.

Although some of the regional authorities have been calling for a relaxation of the measures, others are insisting that masks will continue to be required on the terraces of bars and restaurants and at open-air concerts.

After almost a year and a half monitoring the most intensely studied virus in history, an increasing numbr of studies point to the risk of transmission in the open-air as being very low, as long as social distancing is observed.

A study in late 2020 looked at 1,245 cases in China and found only one in which transmission took place outdoors. The body in charge of monitoring infectious diseases in Ireland, the Health Protection Surveillance Center, pointed out in early April that of the 232,164 cases detected in the country so far, the number of infections believed to have been initiated by outside activity was 262, around 0.1%.

Another study carried out in the city of Milan in Italy, where 10% of the 1.5 million inhabitants were infected, researchers used mathematical models and concluded that it would be necessary to spend 31 consecutive days in public roads, with continuous exposure and mouth and nose uncovered, in order to contract the pathogen in open-air spaces.

The final details will not be confirmed until the cabinet meeting next Thursday and by then it will be clear if any of the regional authorities will decide to maintain the wearing of masks in their respective regions.

Image: Pedro Sánchez in Congress earlier this week