Spain: Faced with an outbreak of winter viruses, wearing a mask becomes mandatory again in hospitals

This is an announcement we are no longer used to hearing. Wearing a mask will again become mandatory in Spain’s hospitals and public health centers from Wednesday due to an outbreak of winter viruses, especially influenza and Covid-19, the Health Ministry said on Monday evening.

Spain, a country traumatized by the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, questioned the measure for days, while the Spanish regions that control health issues disagreed.

The measure was adopted after a meeting with representatives of different regions of Spain on “coordinated public health action in the face of winter peaks of the epidemic.” However, wearing a mask in pharmacies will not be mandatory, the Ministry of Health clarified.

The eastern regions were particularly affected

The decision comes as doctors have been sounding the alarm for several days about rising cases of influenza, as well as Covid-19 and other respiratory viruses, especially in the eastern regions of the country.

On Friday, the Spanish government already announced that it wants to return the mask to a national level. Faced with “a noticeable increase in cases of infection with respiratory viruses (…) we call” for the return of “mandatory masks in sanitary and social-sanitary areas” in the country, Health Minister Monica García said on X.

The Minister spoke in particular about public “hospitals” and “health centers”, where most of the consultations are carried out.

One of the most stringent restrictions

The regions of Valencia (east) and Catalonia (northeast) already announced on Friday that they are making the wearing of masks mandatory for health workers and patients in their hospitals and health centers.

During the Covid pandemic, the obligation to wear a mask was very widely observed in Spain, where the imposed lockdown was one of the strictest in the world. The mandatory wearing of masks was only lifted in July 2023 in places where people at risk may be present, such as hospitals, nursing homes or even pharmacies.