Salvador Peiró
Epidemiologist, researcher in the Health Services and Pharmacoepidemiology Research Area of the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (FISABIO) and Director of Gaceta Sanitaria, the scientific journal of the Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (SESPAS)
The withdrawal of the obligation to wear face masks indoors after Easter seems reasonable in the current epidemiological scenario. Provided that the exceptions and nuances proposed in the draft of the Alerts Report that has been circulating these days are taken into account. And provided that hospitalisation figures do not rise again in the next two weeks.
I think it is important to emphasise the situations in which the Paper recommends (not only those in which use is mandatory) the continued use of face masks indoors. In this sense, it would be of interest for the Ministry and the Autonomous Communities to carry out a social communication campaign to inform the population of the importance of these recommendations (also the recommendations associated with isolation).
With the "end of the pandemic" sound of the withdrawal of measures (and the way they are communicated), it is foreseeable that there will be very little adherence to the mandatory and recommended measures. And with current levels of transmission, adherence to recommendations is still very important.