Scientific committee decides on the second (7) total release of the use of masks in Rio

The members of the Rio Covid Combat Committee will meet on Monday (7) to discuss the release of the use of masks in closed places in the Rio de Janeiro capital. The role of the committee is to advise the City Hall, which may or may not accept the assessment of the collegiate body. The use of masks in open spaces has been allowed since October last year.

The Municipal Health Department says it is in contact with the state government to align joint action. This is necessary because, if the release is not accompanied by the state government, the measure will have no concrete effect. In the case of divergent health rules, the most restrictive always applies.

In November last year, for example, the capital of Rio de Janeiro released the use of masks in gyms for vaccinated people. However, the city hall had to back off after the State Department of Health decided to maintain the use of the protection item in these environments.

For epidemiologist Gulnar Azevedo, the city should wait a little longer to allow the use of masks in closed places. She argues that it is important for authorities to make sure that easing does not bring back a new wave of the disease.

“The release of the use of masks has to accompany not only the situation of vaccination and the need for hospitalization of people, but also what happened in these days of Carnival”, says Azevedo, who is a professor at the Institute of Social Medicine at UERJ. (University of the State of Rio de Janeiro).

Although the city hall banned street Carnival, what was seen on the holiday were scenes of crowds, with people gathered in clandestine blocks. “Therefore, I believe it would be better to wait a little longer.”

According to the expert, the release of masks should take place taking into account the epidemiological scenario not only in the capital, but also in other cities in the state. In addition, she says it is important to strengthen epidemiological surveillance before no longer requiring the use of protection. “By identifying an outbreak somewhere, rapid and appropriate measures must be taken to prevent this case curve from rising again.”

At the moment, the numbers of the pandemic in the city indicate an improvement in the situation. The positivity rate of Covid tests is at 14%. In mid-January, when the city was experiencing a new wave of the disease, this rate reached 50%.

During this period, the capital also recorded an increase in hospitalizations, with more than 800 people in public hospital beds. Today, however, that number has also dropped. On Tuesday (1), there were 55 people hospitalized in the public network for Covid, 32 were in the ICU and 23 in the infirmary. The moving average of cases also shows a downward curve, with 217 cases in seven days.