Romanian authorities announce exceptions to mandatory use of masks in outdoor public spaces

The National Committee for Emergency Situations (CNSU) adopted on Monday, October 26, a decision clarifying the situations in which the protective masks can be removed in outdoor public spaces.

Thus, in the localities or counties where the wearing of protective masks is mandatory even in outdoor public spaces, people can remove their masks when smoking, consuming food or drinks outside terraces, or when doing individual sports or other such activities, but only if they are outside the pedestrian traffic areas and keep a two-meter distance from other people, according to the CNSU decision quoted by Digi24.

Wearing a protective mask is mandatory in all indoor and outdoor public spaces in the localities that have entered the red scenario - namely those where the rate of new COVID-19 infections in the last 14 days passed the threshold of three per 1,000 inhabitants. The list includes Bucharest and other major cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, and Brasov. Raed Arafat, the head of Romania’s Emergency Services Department, said last week that 255 localities are in the red scenario, but the number most probably increased in the last few days.

The CNSU also updated the list of countries with high epidemiologic risk – the so-called “yellow list” - on Monday. The US was removed from this list, along with other countries where the cumulated incidence rate of new COVID-19 cases (over the trailing 14 days) is lower than in Romania, such as Brazil.

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