The Covid Committee will adopt this measure if Pedro Sánchez does not raise restrictions today at the Conference of Presidents
The regional government is considering the closure of the dance floors in the nightlife venues of the Region for this Christmas, in order to stop the brutal increase in infections in recent weeks. The head of the regional Executive, Fernando López Miras, will hear this afternoon the proposals made by Pedro Sánchez at the Conference of Presidents, where he hopes that the central government will put on the table consensual and uniform measures to stop the sixth wave throughout the country. “However, if these actions do not arrive, the Covid Committee has already advanced in the possible measures that should be applied to prevent the virus from continuing to spread in the Region. Among them, the closure of dance floors “, reported sources from the Palacio de San Esteban
This restriction would mainly affect nightlife, as well as venues that have massive New Year’s Eve parties organized. The Executive believes that it is a way that these businesses can remain open while reducing social interaction, as it would guarantee that customers were seated and removed their mask as little as possible.
On the other hand, López Miras will support the regional presidents who ask for the return of the mandatory use of the mask in the street. Presidential sources recall that the Minister of Health, Juan José Pedreño, has already defended this before the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, in the inter-territorial councils. Yesterday, in statements to Onda Regional, Pedreño recalled that in order to remove the mask outdoors it must be possible to keep the distance. Likewise, the President of the Community will insist that a Covid Fund be set up to strengthen the autonomous health systems, as well as the approval of a pandemic law “that provides legal tools so that the autonomous communities can apply measures based on the evolution of the epidemiological situation ‘. It will also ask for the green light to administer the third dose of the vaccine to the general population.
The Region will support the autonomies that request the return of the mandatory mask in outdoor spaces
The Conference of Presidents comes at a time when the struggle between the Government and the autonomous communities for measures to combat the pandemic has been rekindled two days after Christmas Eve, as if it were the ghost of last Christmas. While Moncloa insists on sending a message of “prudence” and remains silent about the measures that Pedro Sánchez is going to propose this afternoon, the reality is that the expansion of the Ómicron variant, predominant in some territories and which has already shown its face in the Region, puts the national health system in check again (the accumulated incidence reached 609 on Monday). The autonomous governments demand urgent measures from the Executive, whom they accuse of “improvising”, and the opposition and some of the partners of the investiture bloc reproach that the meeting was called “late”.
In the PP they have returned to the load with their old demand to demand the approval of a “pandemic law” that offers, as they have been defending since 2020, “certainty and legal security to the autonomies in the face of the sixth wave of coronavirus that Spain is facing” . They also criticize that Sánchez is “hiding behind the autonomous communities again.” The spokeswoman for the popular in Congress, Cuca Gamarra, described the meeting yesterday as “an example of Pedro Sánchez’s incapacity.”
The spokeswoman for the Executive, Isabel Rodríguez, limited herself to asking for prudence. “It is going to be a good time to value the tools that we have been acquiring throughout the pandemic,” he said. La Moncloa still clings to the high vaccination rate of the population, specifically the 85.3% of those over 70 years of age who already have the third dose.
Capacity reduction
Rodríguez, on the other hand, was left without arguments after being asked about the delay in taking the measures and acknowledged that “five weeks ago we did not know Ómicron, therefore we could not think about that variant.” All despite the fact that the committee of experts from Health and the ministries have been proposing restrictions since the beginning of the month that mainly affect the reduction of capacity inside the hotel and nightlife venues –especially party favors or Christmas parties– and to events multitudinous.
Despite the pressure of the regional governments, Catalonia is the only community that has decided not to wait for the conference and already plans to close nightlife and limit social gatherings to a maximum of ten people. Pere Aragonés also proposes the return of the curfew. Madrid, on the other hand, stands out from the rest and is in favor of not agreeing on new restrictions and “not prohibiting anything”, in the words of Díaz Ayuso.
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