Masks outdoors to be relaxed

Masks outdoors are completely pointless.

Pete31 wrote:Well, I for one will have to keep wearing a mask due to the incompetance of the medical system in not given me my covid jab as yet at 72.

Me too Pete.

Masks outdoors have never been compulsory outdoors in Ireland either. It would be great not to have to wear them outdoors in Spain in the heat. It can't be good for anybody healthwise. I hope it is relaxed.

Bee

MichaelC wrote:Masks outdoors are completely pointless.

Depends where outdoors, I suppose. Habaneras and Zenia Boulevard are outdoors as are the local markets. Can be packed, though, especially at the moment. The queue I was in at Alicante the other day was outdoors but I was glad we were all wearing masks.
Same as any big city and both Elche and Alicante were loads of people with no distancing.

However, it does annoy me in the parks like El Recorral and Benijofar eco park. We do not wear them there, just round our necks and bring them up if we see anyone else. Across the road from the Eco park, though, still outdoors but milling with people.

Now, I have no idea what use these masks are. It depends on which "expert" you read. I do know that the extra restriction we have in this area seems to be working well. Accumulated cases in the Alicante Province are less than 25 per 100,000 and the Valencia Region in total is now less than 30.
Compared to places like the Basque Country, Madrid Region and Catalonia which have had far less restrictions we are doing well. Madrid just dropped down from extreme hazard to 249 per 100,000 and the other two regions both in the extreme bit. It's why Spain as a whole is still at risk with an overall almost 150 per 100,000 and we come out of it quite well.

Even in the heat the masks don't really seem to bother me. I don't get all sweaty and unable to breathe although in the open areas it is nice to remove them.

With this weekend just gone being the first when all those from more at risk regions have visited in their hundreds, we shall have to wait and see what the numbers are like in a couple of weeks time. There are now only two mainland regions that have a curfew but this finishes on May 24th (next Monday) but could be extended if the numbers show any type of rise.

Hopefully the outdoor wearing of masks will be binned next month but I will still carry one, and wear one, in certain places. Every new case in this province over the weekend have been social ones, both indoors and out.

vale01 wrote:

suzi wong wrote:According to the latest scientific data,the vaccines are at their most efficient 12wks. apart.

Only astra zeneca

Suzi reflected the UK practice - as 12 weeks gave protection to the greatest number in the shortest time, that was adopted for all the vaccine variants (mainly AZ & Pfizer, initially) - one dose probably kept you alive and lessened symptoms through the course of suffering Covid, if you were unfortunate & then caught it after initial vaccination.
The most that I can, verifiably, state is that it does not reduce the protection eventually gained from two doses.

Some believe that all (commonly used) two dose vaccination types are enhanced with the gap. It certainly helped the UK distribution of vaccines and quicker coverage of the most vulnerable.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, hinted yesterday that the wearing of face mask outdoors could soon be lifted.

The Valencian President, Ximo Puig, has now asked that the current meeting of the interterritorial health ministers introduce a new rule that give the autonomous regions the power to alter restrictions on face mask wearing if the national government brings in the no masks outdoors required ruling.

He has said that, whilst he agrees on no face masks on the beach or in open spaces, he would continue the wearing of face masks outdoors in other areas. He has proposed a "traffic light" system to determine when the wearing of face masks outdoors can be lifted but he has referred to them as a "symbol" to remind people the virus hasn't gone away.

However, the Generalitat, for the time being, does not support removing the mask on the streets and it does not propose a date to completely eliminate them in the open air.

The Valencian Government approved the toughest restrictions in Spain, which have allowed the Valencian Community to remain for three months at a low risk of spreading the coronavirus , and now it wants to maintain the path of caution in de-escalation of masks after having been the last autonomy to lift both the perimeter fence and the curfew.

In that sense, he claims to maintain "all precautions" because the pandemic "has not ended and the virus is still here" and the mask has been one of the non-pharmacological measures that "prevent transmission of the virus but at the same time allow us to socialize ».

MichaelC wrote:Masks outdoors are completely pointless.

If masks worked why did we have multiple waves of pandemic whilst wearing them .....just saying.....

They cant work. A virus particle is smaller than the thread of the mask so can surely pass through no problems. Anyone else notice the complete lack of social distancing and face mask wearing from the members of the G7?

Because not everybody did and I suppose teenagers who don't bother social distancing etc and then going home to families, who knows.

davebrandrick wrote:

MichaelC wrote:Masks outdoors are completely pointless.

If masks worked why did we have multiple waves of pandemic whilst wearing them .....just saying.....