The Government is open to soon discussing with the autonomous communities the removal of masks outdoors, according to the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, to the regional councilors at the meeting of the Interterritorial Health Council. Castilla-La Mancha, Galicia, Catalonia and Madrid have suggested that it is time to reflect on the measure – the same one that some of them pushed just a month ago – but Darias wants to postpone the discussion at least until next week, according to sources present at the meeting. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health confirms that “it will be assessed but there is no set date.”
Only 24 hours ago, Congress revalidated the royal decree that regulates its use in a controversial vote that ended with accusations of “blackmail” against the Government, even by the groups that supported it, by including in the same text the updating of pensions . Minister Darias advanced in parliamentary headquarters that the use of masks on the street was “closer to being modulated” in the face of the pressure that some communities were already beginning to exert and the progressive fall of the curve of the sixth wave.
“I have reiterated what I said yesterday. It is a strictly temporary measure and according to the drop data they are consolidating, we would be closer to modulating this measure if the council considers it so,” Darias assured at the press conference after the Interterritorial Council .
The minister has avoided confirming that she has set, as regional sources assure, a period of “a few days” for the communities to debate the relaxation of the measure. “There is a Public Health Commission every week and the order of the day will be the one set at all times,” he responded after admitting that “although it was not part” of the issues to be discussed at the meeting, the use of mask on the street “has been discussed” and some communities “have spoken out”. The minister has listened to the positions but has settled that “today it is not time”.
The royal decree approved by the Council of Ministers at the end of December enables the Government to modify the mandatory use of masks once “heard the Interterritorial Health Council”, so the decision, a priori, would not have to pass by the Public Health Commission, which brings together Health technicians and the autonomous communities.
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