The Spanish government is mandating masks in all “open-air spaces”, including beaches, from March 31st.
The strict new masks mandate will require people to wear face coverings “on public roads, in open-air spaces and in any closed space for public use or that is open to the public,” according to the Telegraph.
Exemptions from such diktats from popular holiday destinations such as the Balearic Islands, where the infection rate is relatively low, are expected to be scrapped, with local officials no longer empowered to exercise their own discretion.
There is no “sunset clause” setting out a clear endpoint for the mandate, which will hold indefinitely until the authorities decide it is no longer needed.
As the Telegraph notes in its report, the move comes mere weeks after leading British epidemiologist Professor Mark Woolhouse, of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, noted mere weeks ago that “evidence going back to March and April [2020]” suggests that “the virus is not transmitted well outdoors.”
“Over the summer [of 2020] we were treated to all this on the television news, pictures of crowded beaches, and there was an outcry about this,” Professor Woolhouse recalled while giving evidence to MPs on the House of Commons select committee for science and technology.
“There were no outbreaks linked to public beaches. There’s never been a COVD-19 outbreak linked to a beach ever, anywhere in the world, to the best of my knowledge,” said the academic, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M).
“So I think we do have to understand where the risks are and aren’t so that we can do as much as possible safely without overcompensating.”
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