Masks will be once again mandatory outdoors in Spain

It was announced today that wearing masks outdoors in Spain will be once again mandatory, starting from Friday, December 24th.

The announcement was made after the reunion between Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, with the Presidents of the autonomous communities, where new measures to fight the sixth wave of new infections were discussed.

The Presidents of Castilla y León, Navarra, Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community, Galicia, the Basque Country, the Canary Islands or Catalonia were the ones who insisted on the reintroduction on mask-wearing outdoors, while the President of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, strongly opposed the introduction of this new measure again. 

As it was announced, masks will not be mandatory in rural areas, on the beaches as long as the 1.5 m safety distance can be respected and while practicing sports outside. 

We will post an update when the actual decree-law is published and we can see clearly what the exceptions are. 

At the moment Spain has an incidence of 784 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and a 6.2% hospital bed occupancy and almost 16% ICU beds occupancy at a national level.