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As flu cases continue to rise sharply across Spain, health experts are urging people to think twice before relying on face masks left over from the Covid pandemic. With infection rates already higher than at any point in the past three years, the message is clear: masks can still help, but only if they are in date.

 

Figures from the Carlos III Health Institute show that flu incidence in primary care jumped from 78.3 to 164.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the first week of December, a level classed as “medium epidemic intensity”. That figure has already overtaken last winter’s peak of 141.3 cases per 100,000, and it has done so seven weeks earlier than expected (flu cases surge nationwide). The steepest rise has been seen among young children aged one to four, where cases more than doubled in a single week, and in general cases are already at an epidemic level, filling hospitals with numerous cases.

 

Against this backdrop, face masks are once again part of daily life in some parts of the country. In Andalucía, their use has been reintroduced in health centres, while Murcia has made masks compulsory. Nationally, Spain has resisted reintroducing a blanket mask mandate, at least for now, despite the worsening flu data.

 

As a result, many people are pulling masks out of drawers and cupboards where they have been stored since 2020 or 2021. However, doctors warn that this may offer a false sense of security. Most face masks have a limited lifespan. FFP2 masks typically expire after three years, while FFP1 masks last just one year. That means many masks bought during the early months of the pandemic are no longer effective.

 

Lorenzo Armenteros, a doctor and spokesperson for the Spanish Society of General and Family Doctors, explained on RTVE that even well-stored masks lose their protective power over time. “They may still act as a physical barrier against droplets from a sneeze,” he said, “but total protection, as we sought during Covid or as we now seek against flu, cannot be guaranteed.”

 

Another pharmaceutical expert echoed that warning, noting that “some of the components degrade, and therefore the filtration efficiency is lost.”

 

With Christmas gatherings still to come and experts expecting the flu wave to worsen in the weeks ahead, the advice is not to abandon masks altogether, but to use the right ones. As health professionals stress, an in-date mask remains a useful tool, but an expired one may offer little more than reassurance without real protection.

 

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