At least 20 capitals and the Federal District have already made the use of masks optional, according to a survey by the agency CNN. In eight of them, the use of the equipment is no longer mandatory both outdoors and indoors. In the other 13 cities, flexibility is only valid in open spaces.
São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Natal, Maceió, Porto Velho, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre and Distrito Federal made the use of masks optional in any environment. Belo Horizonte, Cuiabá, São Luís, Boa Vista, Macapá, Campo Grande, Vitória, Teresina, Rio Branco, Manaus, Goiânia, Curitiba and João Pessoa adopted flexibility only outdoors.
Of the six capitals that maintain mandatory protective equipment, Fortaleza should make its use more flexible starting next Monday (21).
The decision to release the use of masks is still not a consensus in the scientific community. In a bulletin released on the 11th, researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) say that prudence is necessary in adopting similar measures.
“Easing measures such as physical distancing or abandoning the use of masks in an unrestricted way contributes to a possible increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and does not protect us from a new wave”, says the bulletin.
For infectologist and Fiocruz researcher Julio Croda, in an interview with CNN, the “epidemiological indicators allow flexibility, but it is good to communicate properly with the population, and inform, if necessary. If it has an impact on the health service, the measure may have to go back to preserve hospital beds”.
States
At least 16 states have made wearing a mask optional, according to a survey by the CNN. According to the data, eight states exempted the use in open and closed places: Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Rondônia, Alagoas, Maranhão, São Paulo and the Federal District.
The other eight states made the use optional only in open places: Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Amazonas, Espírito Santo, Rio Grande do Norte, Acre, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul.
*Under supervision
Source: CNN Brasil
