Emilia Vexler
05/22/2020 - 17:41
- Clarín.com
- Society
" They made us get off the plane in groups of 20. I signed the affidavit and went through the heat chamber, the one that says if we have a fever. I went out with my backpack to the Ezeiza meeting point and I hoped that the government of the City, with an entire operation, to take me to a hotel, because I have an address in Capital. There was no one. I asked and they told me to go home. It seemed strange to me. I went to a police station to, just in case, say that I was coming back from Malaysia and I was 'on the loose'. They told me to go home. From there I went to the Ministry of Health and at the entrance they didn't tell me anything. I went to my brothers, because if I'm asymptomatic I don't want to infect my old ones . "
Nicolás (30) told his story to Clarín with great anger . He arrived in Argentina in the early hours of this Friday, on the Qatar Airlines QR 773 flight that departed from Doha. His common sense, like perhaps that of many, considered that he would not be allowed to get into a taxi - as he did - to carry out the quarantine under his responsibility, without being isolated. But I was wrong. The answer he received, more than once and in different places, was correct: he had to go home.
An average of 10 flights a day arrive in the country, which are the only passengers they isolate in Buenos Aires hotels?
Nicolás is not one of those passengers. As reported by the Argentine Foreign Ministry, between May 16 and 23, more than 4,100 Argentines will be able to return to the country on 17 special flights from the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
The Doha flight was on the Foreign Ministry list. Nicolás managed to travel after days of waiting and help from the Argentine embassy in Malaysia, after which he was able to buy the ticket for $ 1,500. It was one of the flights scheduled for May 21, as well as others from Bogotá, Madrid, Bangkok and Cancun.
The only passengers for whom the protocol of the City Transport Ministry is activated -in the Province this "guarded" isolation was never made- to be transferred to Buenos Aires hotels, are the flights considered "risky" .
As Clarín confirmed from that Ministry, the starting points of aircraft identified as risky continue to be Brazil, Chile and the United States. On Monday, from the National Transport Ministry, they were informed that "Argentines from Europe stopped going to hotels, because it is not necessary." Foreign Ministry sources confirmed "that Europe is no longer a problem."
Currently in Spain there are 55 thousand active patients, while in Italy there are 59 thousand. Those figures today contrast with those of Brazil, where there are more than 168 thousand active cases, or the United States, where the figure exceeds 1.1 million. Chile today has just over 35 thousand who are carrying the infection.
Sources from the Ministry of Health of the Nation explained that "isolation is something that must be fulfilled like any of us. All the people who arrive in the country passed through Border Health, which depends on the Ministry of Health and signed sworn statements in the countries of origin of these flights, under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then each jurisdiction decides which protocols to apply or not to apply. "
Why do not all passengers who return from abroad and have Buenos Aires domicile stay in hotels in Capital? "The hotel capacity would have been saturated. In Argentina there is quarantine and they must comply with it at home. Those who have to go to hotels will know this before taking off, because they are informed correctly and also when they land in Ezeiza," they said.
The porteños transport officials in charge of the operation for "risky flights", are informed by Nation 24 hours before each landing, so that they organize the disposition of passengers in the hotels with available rooms.
According to the City Hotel Occupancy Report, this Thursday there was no entry of passengers from abroad . In total, until this Friday, 9,240 passengers were accommodated . In the last 24 hours there were 171 check outs (discharges), giving a total of 7,614 people who, after 14 days in residence, were able to return to their homes.
In the rooms of the authorized hotels, the President, Cyan Américas, Grand View, Ibis Congreso, Cyan Tower, Ibis Obelisco, Argenta Tower, Luxor, Feir´s Park and Viasui, there are still 1,626 passengers.
How much were those passengers tested? Since March 31, 7,973 tests have been carried out. There were 1,404 positive cases. And there are 859 suspected cases awaiting results.
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