With the release of the use of protective masks against covid-19 in closed places, decreed on Thursday (3) by the governor of Rio of JanuaryCláudio Castro, the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro must now decide on the mandatory use in their territories.
According to the decree, in places where the Secretary of State for Health determines the permanence of the mandatory use of the mask, the penalties provided for in art. 5 of State Law No. 8.859/2020”, fine and warning. According to the secretary, the state will provide information on the Risk Map of transmission of the new coronavirus to help in the evaluation of municipalities.
In the last map, published in the fridayOn Friday (4), the northwest and south central regions of Rio de Janeiro are classified at medium risk of transmission of covid-19, in orange, and the metropolitan region II advanced to the very low level, in green. The rest of the state is at low level, in yellow.
The municipalities classified with the green flag are Niterói, São Gonçalo, Maricá, Itaboraí and Rio Bonito. They were classified in red flag Varre-Sai, Natividade, Bom Jesus do Itabapoana, Itaperuna, Laje do Muriaé, São José de Ubá, Miracema, Santo Antônio de Pádua, Cardoso Moreira and Itaocara, all in the northwest region. Portiúncula, Cambuci, Italva, Aperibe and Três Rio advanced to the orange flag. The other 72 municipalities, including the capital, were classified with a yellow flag, low risk.
Without mask
In the metropolitan region, where 12 million people live, with most of them commuting to the capital daily, many cities have not yet changed the rules on the use of masks indoors.
The Scientific Committee of the City of Rio de Janeiro decided to today (7), in meeting, release the use of masks in closed places, including public transport. A decree with the new rule should be published tomorrow, as announced by Mayor Eduardo Paes on Twitter. The use of equipment in open areas has been allowed in the city since October, but the population is still divided, with a large part maintaining the use of the mask on the streets.
In Duque de Caxias, Decree 8140, published in fridayFriday (4), follow state guidance and release the use of masks. “The use of a face mask during the Covid-19 pandemic is not required, in an open or closed place, throughout the territory of the municipality of Duque de Caxias”, says the legal text. The rule does not apply “in cases where the person is infected or suspected of being contaminated with the new coronavirus during the period of transmission”.
In Niterói, the prefecture informed that the decision will be taken in the coming days, after evaluating the contamination curve of the new coronavirus. “A meeting will be scheduled with the city’s Scientific Committee and technicians from the Municipal Health Department, in the coming days, to analyze the case.”
The city hall of Petrópolis will convene a meeting of the Scientific Committee to evaluate the new sanitary measures, still no date.
The mayor of São João de Meriti will still meet with the Municipal Health Department to decide on the matter. The city of Mangaratiba reported that it has not yet taken any decision in this regard and that, for now, the use of masks in closed places remains mandatory in the city.
In Itaboraí, the Municipal Secretary of Health maintains the recommendation of the use of masks in closed environments. The city’s Special Committee to Combat Covid-19 should meet this week to discuss the possibility of flexibility, “from the evaluation of vaccine coverage data in the municipality”.
The city of Magé informed that the technicians of the Department of Health will meet in the fridayFriday (11) to assess the impacts that the carnival holiday may to have caused in the epidemiological indices of the municipality. “Only after that will the prefecture decide whether or not to wear a mask in the city”.
In São Gonçalo, epidemiological indices are falling in the city, but the Municipal Secretary of Health and Civil Defense advises that sanitary measures be maintained to avoid contagion, such as avoiding agglomerations, respecting distance, washing hands and wearing a mask.
