Government and autonomies seek legal formulas to limit movements at night. The interterritorial council approves a risk ‘traffic light’ to impose restrictions.
Andalusia the Valencian Community and Castilla y León will be the first autonomies to impose curfews The Board approved it this Thursday for Granada and its metropolitan area where it will take effect on Sunday
The Valencian Government and the CastilianLeon government announced it at the end of the day For the rest of Spain it will have to wait
Although it is an option that both the central government and the majority of regional governments welcome there is still no consensus on how to articulate it
The Interterritorial Council of the National Health System which was held this Thursday approved a package of measures to curb the epidemic advanced on Wednesday by El PAÍS and among them there is currently no restriction of night mobility
In the absence of an agreement the president of the Valencian Community Ximo Puig announced that he will approve the curfew in the next few days in his community from midnight to six in the morning
Likewise the vice president of Castilla y León Francisco Igea assured that this region will order a curfew this Friday and that it will be applied from nine or ten at night as long as the courts ratify it reported Juan Navarrese
These two autonomies had requested this limitation before the council without it going ahead so Igea considered the result of the Interterritorial meeting as disappointing
For his part the Minister of Health Salvador Illa explained after the meeting that his department is seeking consensus with the communities to approve this limitation of night mobility throughout Spain and that he is studying how to articulate it
The optimal legal instrument for a curfew throughout the territory is the state of alarm Legal services have been studying it for some time But we will continue to value it and mature it on the board Illa said
Fernando Simón director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies assured that the curfew is a tool that would help contain the virus I dont know what legal format it will have to be given
But several spheres of transmission have already been controlled between seasonal workers in meat companies it has been avoided in schools and now it occurs in very specific environments
Limiting nighttime mobility could greatly favor transmission control because the most important sources are there
The curfew which is already being applied in France aims to further limit social relations but depending on the time its repercussions can vary greatly
According to Ildefonso Hernández spokesperson for the Spanish Public Health Society Sespas it has been observed that this type of measure can reduce transmission by 18 But these are studies from very different countries you have to adapt them to the context
I suppose that the autonomous communities will have data showing where the greatest transmission takes place to limit those hours he adds
Epidemiologist Javier del Águila points out that the key to knowing its impact is the time the curfew is set something that is not yet clear
Granada the only Spanish capital that has already decreed it has imposed it since 2300 From this time on it can have an effect on large bottles parks because bars and restaurants were already closed at that time in many communities with great incidence
If it is brought forward to 9 pm or 10 pm it would have a more radical impact because it not only affects what you do at dawn but it also limits dinners and meetings he says
Although it may seem a very drastic measure Del Águila believes that the sooner it is taken the more effect it will have In the first wave doubts about home confinements due to their radical nature led us to postpone them and it was worse
What the interterritorial council did approve is the new package of measures to deal with the epidemic
All the communities voted in favor except the Basque Country and Madrid which abstained in the absence of having a definitive document
We do not oppose the alert document but we do not support it either because it is four months late it should have been prepared when the state of alarm ended says a spokesperson for the community governed by Isabel Díaz Ayuso
These measures establish a panel with eight main indicators and 20 secondary indicators that place localities with more than 10000 inhabitants at four levels of risk
The high and extreme risk which includes a cumulative incidence rate in the last 14 days of more than 250 cases per 100000 inhabitants includes assessing the closure of all nonessential establishments at 1100 pm and the possibility of closing the interiors in bars and restaurants or reduce its capacity to a minimum
If these indicators are applied to the averages of the autonomous communities only five would get rid of the highest restrictions the Balearic Islands the Canary Islands Cantabria the Valencian Community Extremadura and Galicia
All others present a high or extreme risk But once it is published in the BOE in the next few days according to Simón it will be the regional governments that will have to assess the risk of each of their territories and apply the measures that have been agreed upon as well as define the geographic scope where they are imposed
Risk criteria
Among the criteria to establish the risk of each municipality two blocks are evaluated one that measures the transmission of the virus through six statistics
the cumulative incidence per 100000 inhabitants in 14 days and in seven these same measures but referring to the population older than 65 years the percentage of positivity of the diagnostic tests and the percentage of cases with traceability and another the care capacity through the occupation of beds in the ward and in the ICU
Each of these metrics is assigned a value For example the extreme risk threshold is above 250 cases at 14 days 125 to one week figures that go down to 150 and 75 in the case of those over 65 more than 15 positivity in tests and less than 10 traceability that is only 10 out of 100 positives or less are known to contact
In the care block the maximum risk is reached when 15 of beds occupied by covid patients on the ward and 25 in intensive care are exceeded When a territory has two or more indicators from the first block above these levels and at least one from the second it is considered to be at extreme risk
Whatever the level the measures mean the closure of nightlife For extreme risk there are no concrete measures the document recommends that all those of level three be applied and other additional measures be studied which if necessary would have to be carried out by applying the alarm state
At the third level people are recommended not to leave their homes except for necessary measures perimeter confinement can be assessed teleworking is advised whenever possible limiting social gatherings to a maximum of six people
In the hospitality industry in addition to assessing closings at 11pm and indoor closings a 75 outdoor capacity limitation is imposed and a limit for the admission of customers at 10pm closing at 11pm
The measures are relaxed as the level of risk is lowered In the second one meetings of 10 people and opening of 50 interior capacity in hospitality are allowed
