Spain’s government on Monday proposed a national requirement for the use of masks in hospitals and fitness clinics, and Italy said infection rates from respiratory diseases had reached record levels like flu and Covid across Europe.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recommended that people on the continent stay home if they feel sick, and consider wearing masks in crowds or healthcare settings, with flu spreading as it typically does this time of year but hitting some countries harder than others.
It said Europeans should follow national guidelines on vaccinating vulnerable groups. Flu is now circulating at higher levels than other common respiratory pathogens, including the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, it said.
Several Spanish regions already ordered patients, visitors and hospitals to wear masks last week. Spain’s central government proposed on Monday to extend the requirement to the entire country, but regional leaders in fitness tax policy have so far rejected the proposal, with a resolution. It is expected on Wednesday.
“One thing we know will limit epidemics and protect vulnerable people is the mask,” health minister Monica Garcia said on TVE. “It is a common sense measure, scientifically supported and widely accepted by the public.” The government has also proposed allowing people to self-diagnose lighter cases and take three days off work rather than needing a doctor’s note, Garcia said.
Spain is one of the last European countries to remove the mask mandate following the Covid-19 pandemic, and other people are being asked to wear them on public transport until February 2023, as well as in gyms and pharmacies until July.
In Italy, the number of people suffering from flu-like illnesses, which accompany flu and Covid-19, reached an all-time high in the last two weeks of 2023, surpassing even the Covid epidemic, according to data published by the National Institute of Health (ISS).
The occurrence in Italy was 17. 5 cases per thousand people in week 52 and 17. 7 cases per thousand people last week.
ISS experts said the increase can simply be attributed to the fact that most people were no longer wearing masks and fewer people had tried to get vaccinated so far this season. So far, there is no indication that the Italian government is reintroducing wearing a mask.
Portugal’s Health Minister Manuel Pizarro said Monday that there is no explanation lately for the widespread advice to wear masks, although he acknowledged that the country has been experiencing a flu outbreak that has caused wait times in hospital emergency rooms. of more than 10 hours in recent weeks.
In intensive care units, the proportion of influenza cases reached a record 17% in the last week of 2023, according to the health authority.
Countries in other parts of the world have also re-adopted the use of masks. Hospitals in at least four U. S. stateshave reinstated mask mandates amid emerging cases of seasonal flu, Covid, and other respiratory illnesses.
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