Pharmacies begin handing out face masks for all residents

The distribution of face masks in pharmacies for all residents in Catalonia got underway on Monday morning. 

The government has bought 14 million of the protective masks to provide each resident with one for free, while another for €0.76 will also be available for everyone in some weeks. 

Pharmacies have been supplied with 1.5 million face masks – some 450 each – with another two million due to arrive on Thursday. 

Yet, one hour after the distribution was launched, the government IT prescriptions system was down after chemists handed out 100,000 units, so they had to halt temporarily the distribution. 

In Monday's coronavirus government press briefing, spokesperson Meritxell Budó sais that authorities didn't believe the system failure was down to high demand. 

Budó also explained that this morning saw longer queues than normal outside pharmacies for the first 20 minutes, but the rest of the morning passed by without significant waiting times. 

She also said that after the system failure, "most" pharmacies distributed face masks manually.   

Avoiding crowds

The government spokeswoman, Meritxell Budó, called on people not to break the quarantine restrictions only to get masks from a pharmacy and, in order to avoid crowds, she urged the public to only go to get one if they really need it. 

"Everyone will get their mask," she said.

Indeed, pharmacies fear "crowds" in the first few days of the distribution. "Everyone should go to get a mask if they need it, not just because they have a right to it," the vice president of the pharmacists association (Consell de Col·legis de Farmacèutics de Catalunya), Josep Aiguabella, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

"No one should think that if they don't go this week, they will have to pay," he added, although he pointed out that the second mask will cost only €0.76, "a ridiculously low price." 

Everyone will be able to claim their face mask with their CatSalut Catalan health card.