In Spain, the last days of mandatory masks in closed areas and news from countries that had to step back and make it mandatory again, the question everyone is asking is: Can we claim victory? The definitive “end” of the epidemic? Or is it possible for us to take a step back?

A measure that was already reversible in the past. Masks are no longer mandatory outside on June 26, 2021. The improvement in the epidemiological situation, high vaccination rates and the imminence of a critical summer season for the huge Spanish tourism sector has prompted the Government to begin de-escalation after countries like Israel, Poland or the United States.

The withdrawal lasted six months. On December 22, 2021, with Omicron’s record-breaking record for infection and family gatherings just around the corner, the Government pressed the button on the masks again, and they’re back on the country streets amid controversy over the scarcity of masks. decision. On February 10, this obligation was lifted again.

Will it happen again? In this sense (whether now, in a few months, or with the coming of winter) the question of whether we will have to step back is pertinent. In fact, the ministry does not dare to give a clear answer, and in a recent interview in El País, Carolina Darias said, “We are preparing.” [por si hay que dar marcha atrás] and in Europe. One of the lessons of this pandemic is that we must be prepared for current threats as well as future threats. The Spanish Government, hand in hand with the autonomous communities and experts, is not letting its guard down” and when asked if it will be necessary next winter, “we will consider it when the time comes. All on time.”

And we’re sailing in a sea of ​​uncertainties. A good example of this is the lack of clear consensus among experts. While most would agree that this is not an “irrational” or “crazy” measure, it is a “sensitive” move. Evidence of this is the increase in cases in Germany or France as soon as they are withdrawn; but above all it had to be reintroduced in Austria as the infections did not stop the growth.

The question is not whether to withdraw. As Preventive Medicine and Public Health expert Mario Fontán points out, this is something that seems well established, because “with the vast majority of the population [con] at least twice the vaccine” and, without the extra restrictions, the “weight” of the mask in controlling the pandemic is much lighter than before.

Key to the debate is how to do this in a context where, as Joan Caylá, a fellow of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology, explains at NIUS, “when social interaction increases, it is proven, as in carnivals, to fail. [y, previsiblemente, ocurrirá en Semana Santa]cases are increasing”. First of all, because “Spain is the only country in the European Union to break the isolation of mild cases” and this is an extra potential risk.

The ‘nuclear button’ of masks. However, if we’re being honest, we’ll have to admit that there is legal and political precedent for returning the masks, that the Government’s creativity to bring them back is there (and will continue to be there in winter) if cases increase significantly. Or better yet, it can “continue to be there”. Because, as we’ve discussed many times, pandemics do not end when the virus stops circulating in the community, but when society assumes that it must return to its “normal life”, even with significant costs.

As long as COVID is about the country and the fear of a “return to March 2020” remains on the table, masks will “absolutely” never go out of circulation. It’s true that the signs are telling us that society is shelving the pandemic, but (and this Minister Darias was right) if SARS-CoV-2 taught us anything, it’s that it can always come back to us. their lives.

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