Rev Esp Quimioter 2023; 36(5): 466-469

Advantages and disadvantages of maintaining the mandatory use of masks in health centers and nursing homes in Spain. How and when is it justified to maintain it?

MANUEL MARTÍNEZ-SELLÉS, FRANCISCO JAVIER MARTÍN SÁNCHEZ, SANTIAGO MORENO GUILLÉN, FERNANDO RODRÍGUEZ-ARTALEJO, JULIÁN RUIZ-GALIANA, RAFAEL CANTÓN, PILAR DE LUCAS RAMOS, ALEJANDRA GARCÍA-BOTELLA, ALBERTO GARCÍA-LLEDÓ, TERESA HERNÁNDEZ-SAMPELAYO, JAVIER GÓMEZ-PAVÓN, JUAN GONZÁLEZ DEL CASTILLO, MARI CRUZ MARTÍN-DELGADO, JOSÉ MARÍA MOLERO GARCÍA, BEGOÑA SANTIAGO, JOSÉ ANTONIO CAMINERO, CARLOS BARROS, DARÍO GARCÍA DE VIEDMA, CARLOS MARTÍN, EMILIO BOUZA

Published: 28 June 2023

http://www.doi.org/10.37201/req/070.2023

We address the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining the mandatory use of masks in health centers and
nursing homes in the current epidemiological situation in Spain and after the declaration of the World Health Organization on May 5, 2023 of the end of COVID-19 as public health emergency. We advocate for prudence and flexibility, respecting the individual decision to wear a mask and emphasizing the need for its use when symptoms suggestive of a respiratory infection appear, in situations of special vulnerability (such as immunosuppression), or when caring for patients with those infections. At present, given the observed low risk of severe COVID-19 and the low transmission of other respiratory infections, we believe that it is disproportionate to maintain the mandatory use of masks in a general way in health centers and nursing homes. However, this could change depending on the results of epidemiological surveillance and it would be necessary to reconsider returning to the obligation in periods with a high incidence of respiratory infections.

Rev Esp Quimioter 2023; 36(5): 466-469 [Full-text PDF]