Experts criticize mask removal in closed places, but defend flexibility

Rio de Janeiro has already put an end to the use of mask even in closed environments. Bars and restaurants are also gearing up for a nationwide movement to end masks.

But experts heard by the sheetdespite agreeing that we are living in a moment of the Covid pandemic ideal for flexibility, they ask for a little calm and guidance on places where the use of protection against the coronavirus would still be important.

The city of Rio de Janeiro, on Monday (7), became the first capital in the country to exempt the use of masks in closed places. In the state, Duque de Caxias also allowed the use in open and closed areas. In Santa Catarina, Chapecó and Rio do Sul overturned the requirement.

In the state of São Paulo, this week the mask should no longer be mandatory in open public spaces, as it happened in the Federal District and Belo Horizonte. The announcement of Governor João Doria (PSDB) is expected this Wednesday (9).

Experts heard by the report agree that it is time to take off masks on the streets, considering that the chance of contamination by Covid in open and well-ventilated environments is considerably lower.

“This happened much faster in several other countries in the world, countries that even controlled the pandemic well. It is a little surprising that it remains in force in Brazil until today”, says Vitor Mori, a research physicist at the University of Vermont (USA) and member of the Covid-19 BR Observatory.

In any case, even if the risk outdoors is much lower, it’s still not zero, says Mori. In open places, but with a large number of people very close, talking and singing, for example, attention must be paid.

If release for open areas is supported, the same cannot be said for closed environments, where other issues arise to be taken into account.

“In closed spaces, I find the wide and unrestricted release of the use of the mask complicated”, says the researcher from the University of Vermont. “I think some places deserve a little more attention, like public transport, hospital environments and nursing homes.”

That is, places where there is a large concentration of people, usually with little space between them; places where people are sick (perhaps even with Covid) or have health problems that make them fragile; and places where one of the most vulnerable populations to serious cases of Covid is found.

Mori even states that, in closed places where there is greater risk, masks with greater protection potential, of the PFF2 type, could be required, with explanations on the mode of use and distribution campaigns.

“I think there is a lack of public policies that are focused, that act where the risk is”, he says.

Infectologist Julio Croda, researcher at Fiocruz and professor at UFMS (Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul), sees the beginning of flexibility in the use of masks as something natural, but he also preaches caution in higher risk environments.

“It would be interesting to keep it mandatory in health services. People who go are sick, so you reduce transmission with masks. People with flu syndrome go to the service and can transmit to health professionals, to other patients who are debilitated”, exemplifies Croda.

According to Raquel Stucchi, a professor at Unicamp and a consultant for the SBI (Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases), the release in internal areas is too hasty.

“We have more urgent measures than allowing the use of masks”, says the specialist, who cites the need to encourage booster doses – only about 31% of the population took it – and the discussion of a fourth dose for some groups.

Part of the researchers says that the discussion of release in closed places should be further forward, from the moment that the percentages of vaccinated with booster and children immunized with two doses were higher.

It is also necessary to observe the risk of winter, they say, a time when, regardless of Covid, cases of respiratory diseases tend to grow, which are also preventable by wearing a mask.

Rosana Richtmann, an infectious disease specialist at the Emílio Ribas Institute, believes that the release of masks in closed places has to be analyzed by the local reality, based on data from the municipalities, but that, at this moment, shortly after Carnival, there should still be restrictions.

Therefore, for Richtmann, even with the positive data from the city of Rio, such as a low positivity rate (that is, the percentage of positive results for Covid among all the tests carried out), a little more care is necessary.

“We are now ten days since the beginning of Carnival. We are still in the observation period, although I am optimistic,” he says.

According to Croda, despite the more positive moment in relation to the pandemic, it should be borne in mind that the flexibilities may recede if the scenario becomes unfavorable again. “That could all change if a new variant emerges.”

Stucchi also points out the risk of a lower adherence to the use of face protection if it is necessary to go back in flexibility.

The Fiocruz researcher also says that the Ministry of Health should act more, giving guidance on the indicators that should prevail for the flexibility of masks. Croda cites, as an example of a good observation measure, the impact of Covid infections on health services, to avoid overloading the network.

Daniel Soranz, Rio de Janeiro’s municipal secretary of health, said, after the announcement of the easing of the use of masks, that there is a recommendation for immunosuppressed people, with severe comorbidities or who have not been vaccinated to continue wearing a mask.

In addition to these groups, experts draw attention to the elderly and recall the care that people with flu symptoms should continue to take, such as, in addition to wearing a mask, avoiding contact with other people.