The president of the National Association of Public Health Doctors (ANMSP) defended today that the use of masks «may continue to make sense», despite Portugal having reached the target of 70% of the population vaccinated against Covid-19.
Ricardo Mexia told Lusa that the law that imposes the mandatory use of masks until September 12 should fall before 70% of vaccinated citizens, but defended that the use of masks should "depend on the context" in which people find themselves and that, in the event of greater agglomeration, the adoption of this personal protective equipment is still recommended.
“In a low-density context, where people are able to maintain their distance, perhaps the mask outdoors may not be essential. Now, in a context of greater concentration, the mask continues to make sense, it continues to make it possible to reduce the spread if there is proximity. We know that on the outside this is always smaller than on the inside, but if there is proximity, it can continue to make sense», he said.
The public health specialist noted that the requirement "is more of a normative-legal issue and not so much a technical issue" and emphasized that the mask "does not prevent" people from carrying out a wide range of activities.
"There is not exactly a great limitation that is imposed on us: it allows us to be at the sites and participate in activities, reducing the risk of disease transmission," he stressed.
Faced with the approach of the autumn-winter period and the possibility of lifting the obligation to wear a mask, Ricardo Mexia recalled that "there were several countries that, regardless of the season, ended up resuming the use of masks", due to an increase in the use of masks. number of cases of infection with the new coronavirus, but he said he preferred to point to the need to rethink the Covid-19 monitoring paradigm.
“Soon we will have to change the way we approach the disease. Until now – as a result of lower vaccination coverage – we were very committed to identifying all cases of infection, but eventually we will have to evolve to be more concerned with cases of disease," he said, considering that "the approach has to be integrated , it is not with individual measures that the thing can be managed. There are a number of issues that have to be taken into account».
The public health doctor pointed out that Portugal is not in a position to embark on an «approach to zero disease», as New Zealand has followed, and, therefore, defended that «the most vulnerable and elderly people can benefit from the use of the mask», as well as those who demonstrate to be symptomatic and who, due to this condition, have a greater chance to transmit the disease.
“We are going to have to deal with the disease as well as possible. And this implies framing the issues and resuming what is a set of activities that we cannot have to aeternum suspended. These measures have to make sense in a concerted way to address the problem," he maintained.
At the same time, Ricardo Mexia identified the return of some incidence of more serious cases and mortality in the more advanced age groups and warned of the importance of studying the causes of this phenomenon at this stage.
“We have to understand what is going on, why this is happening, and if it is a problem of decreased immunity due to the time that has passed since they were vaccinated or is it related to a lower response from the the variants point of view,” he said.
As for the possible need to administer a third dose of vaccine in the near future - which the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, made today depend on the guidance that the European Medicines Agency will give -, the president of the ANMSP highlighted the importance of collecting more data from ongoing studies on the immune response over time, although he admitted this scenario as probable.
“I believe that eventually we will reach that stage of making sense to reinforce the vaccine. I don't know exactly when this should happen and that's what needs to be evaluated in order to make the decision afterwards».
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