In downtown Madrid, there were a few on Thursday exposing their faces to the wind: tourists, cyclists, smokers and a few others.

But the majority of people wore the mask, even before the obligation came into force on Friday.

The measure seems "excellent" to Amadeus Garcia, 82, who walks in the famous square of Puerta del Sol behind an FFP2.

"Anything that goes in the direction of protection is good," he continues, explaining that he is wearing the mask "all the time".

As for the doubts of certain experts on the effectiveness of such a measure, currently extremely rare in the world, the octogenarian sweeps them aside: "there are conspirators everywhere!".

"Oh, well, in the street you have to wear it too? I didn't know".

On vacation in Madrid, Ramy Azizeh is one of the few to have his face clear.

He considers that the measure is good and should be exported to London, where this young accountant lives.

"We would not have had so many cases: 100,000 in 24 hours !, he said."

Passers-by anticipate the return to the compulsory wearing of the mask outside throughout Spain, in Madrid, on December 22, 2021 JAVIER SORIANO AFP

Jeannet Prevost, also passing through the Spanish capital, approves the "preventive measure, especially with this new variant".

This 62-year-old Peruvian pediatrician says she was surprised when she arrived in Madrid: "people don't put on the mask, they don't wear the double mask like in Lima. Here, look over there, he isn't wearing it".

"A measure of Christmas"

In front of the metro station, it's the "last day of freedom" for Aida García, a 28-year-old lawyer who wears a cap on her head.

"It is painful, but it is necessary, and besides, one should not say to oneself + come on it's good, I have the mask, we forget the rest! +", She comments.

From Friday, she will respect the obligation, which she considers to be "a measure of Christmas" and which she grimly hopes will be lifted "in February".

Begoña Gómez, 61, walks on the arm of her daughter Cristina Blanco, 23.

They readjust the mask they had on their chin when you approach them.

The mask outside?

In chorus, they answer that it is "perfectly useless".

"People have common sense, they know how to behave whether there are people or not, how to protect themselves ...", explains Begoña.

In Barcelona (Catalonia), the second largest city in the country, Lorena Ramos, a 34-year-old nurse, shares the same opinion: "We've been living with the pandemic long enough to know how to behave when it's crowded. ".

Alberto Díaz, a 34-year-old photographer, believes that it is a "deterrent measure to somehow control the Christmas holidays, an express measure that does not really make sense, but to say that we are doing something ".

By announcing Wednesday the return of the mask outside, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez insisted on the "very broad" consensus of this measure, demanded by the majority of the presidents of regions during the extraordinary meeting convened Wednesday in the face of the spread of the Omicron variant.

"Experience has shown us that, combined with vaccination, the mask is fundamental in preventing the rise in infections," he told reporters.

Madrid, its streets lit up before Christmas and its onlookers who will soon all have to wear the mask outdoors as in all of Spain, December 22, 2021 JAVIER SORIANO AFP

Vaccination champion with 89.7% of those over 12 fully vaccinated and already more than one child aged 5 to 11 who received their first dose, Spain experienced a dramatic hospital situation at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

She has bitter memories of the first confinement, one of the strictest in the world, which left in its wake a bloodless economy and a traumatized population.

© 2021 AFP