Goodbye to masks? The conditions that Peru needs to evaluate for this to be possible

More and more countries decide to lift the mandatory use of masks in the midst of the pandemic coronavirus, at least partially. Spain, Italy, France and other nations decided that their citizens no longer need to use them in open spaces.

Although the countries of Latin America have not yet joined this change in prevention protocols, discussions on the subject have already begun, since he They place us at a different time in the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health has ruled out that withdrawing the use of masks in the country is under evaluation for the moment. Until the closing of this report, no changes were known about this position with the new head of the sector.

In dialogue with Tradethe director of the General Directorate of Strategic Interventions in Public Health (DGIESP), Alexis Holguín, indicated what are the factors that they will consider so that, eventually, its use is suppressed, either partially or totally.

“[Para tomar esta decisión]scientific evidence and recommendations from experts and entities such as the CDC should be considered [Centro para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de EE.UU.] and the World Health Organization (WHO), and information from recent experience on the impact of the use of masks on vaccinated persons. We need the information of the studies that are carried out [en el momento]”, details the official.

Holguín highlights that the experience of those countries that have decided to lift said restriction will be valuable. The effect of removing the masks in this context will be seen in a few weeks, with him, he says.

The WHO considers that Europe, where countries have begun to take this measure, could be close to the end of the pandemic, although the rest of the world would still have a long way to go.

In this sense, Ciro Ugarte, director of Health Emergencies of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), affirms that this “It is a dynamic context, and the conditions of community transmission [del virus]the availability of health services and vaccination coverage are the three fundamental elements for making decisions, always with and with rapid availability of diagnostic tests for people who have symptoms, so that we can control localized outbreaks and avoid community transmission.”

“If there is one thing we have learned in these two years of the pandemic, it is that when the restrictions on the use of a mask have been lifted in a few weeks in all the countries that have made that decision,” reiterates Ugarte, in response to El Comercio.

The official also recalled that the masks have not only helped reduce the transmission of the coronavirus, but also other respiratory diseases such as influenza.

Meanwhile, the director of Public Health of the WHO, María Neira, asked before the announcements of the withdrawal of the use of masks in Europe and affirmed that the coming weeks will be “critical” to know what the evolution of the pandemic will be.