The Interterritorial Council of the National Health System held this Friday has finally decided “by consensus” that the obligation to wear the mask in health centers, pharmacies and residences becomes a recommendation. According to Efe, the mask will only be kept in hospital areas with critical and vulnerable patients (for example in operating rooms, ICUs or when dealing with immunosuppressed patients), so its widespread use ends, but it is mainly recommended when there are symptoms of respiratory infection.

The easing of this measure coincides in between the two electoral events of the year: the regional elections on May 28, which means that in practice almost all the Health Ministers summoned are in office, and the general elections on the next 23 July, which leads some to criticize that the measure has been raised thinking more about the polls than about the health situation.

The Minister of Health, José Manuel Miñones, commented days ago that the debate had to be approached rigorously and seriously and that they were going to be guided by the experts to decide on the withdrawal process; that is, if it is done “prolongedly, permanently or in stages”. It must be taken into account that in previous meetings of the Public Health Commission, the last one held this Thursday as indicated by the acting Madrid Health Minister, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, a decision had not yet been made in this regard. The measure also it will have to be approved by the Council of Ministers, which is the one who has the last word on the matter.

There have already been some autonomies that hours before had declared themselves in favor in principle, such as Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León, waiting to agree on the details. The Minister of Galicia, Julio García Comesaña, has indicated that they would be in favor of a proposal to eliminate the mandatory use of masks in health centers and pharmacies and only keep them “in areas of immunosuppressed patients.”

Almost all of the Health Councilors who have attended the Interterritorial meeting this Friday are in office waiting for the new regional governments to be formed. Hence the criticism from, for example, the Madrid councillor, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, who has described it as “genuine recklessness” to call up to twelve acting councilors awaiting their replacement, something that he considers “totally out of place” and whose only objective is “electoralista”. In his case, he already knows the name of the person who will replace him, Fátima Matute, from next Monday.

But in addition to Ruiz Escudero, Sira Ripollés (Aragón), Pablo Fernández (Asturias), Patricia Gómez (Baleares), Blas Trujillo (Canary Islands), Raúl Pesquera (Cantabria), Jesús Fernández (Castilla-La Mancha), Miguel Mínguez (Valencian Community) , José María Vergeles (Extremadura), Juan José Pedreño (Murcia), Santos Induráin (Navarra) and María Somalo (La Rioja) are also on duty.

In the case of the councilor from Asturias, it remains to be seen if he will continue in office, since the PSOE won again in the last elections. The same happens with the owner of Castilla-La Mancha.

At the entrance to the meeting, Ruiz Escudero lamented that the relaxation of masks, although it was a proposal from Madrid for five months “has not been dealt with in the presentation, it has not been dealt with in the Public Health Commission, there is no technical criteria for this withdrawal, therefore, if this is approved, it would be another irregularity of the many that we have suffered during all this time in this Interterritorial Council, I insist, always instrumentalized for political purposes”, has defended the acting Madrid councillor.