Sebastian Clemente
05/09/2020 - 11:45
- Clarín.com
- Cities
It is clear that the quarantine was in fact relaxed. It is seen in the streets and is reflected in the numbers of vehicles and transport. It is also known that many need to open their businesses , return to income that disappeared on March 20, suddenly and without prior notice. But the coronavirus is there, lurking, the disease has not yet reached its peak and in urban conglomerates it attacks with more virulence.
In this context, the City of Buenos Aires begins, as it had not yet happened after fifty days of compulsory isolation, to coexist with the pandemic . And it is transformed. A stage unknown until now begins , and according to the announcements made this Saturday morning, for it to be successful, changes are necessary that will inevitably have new impacts on the lives of the people of Buenos Aires.
"The quarantine continues in the City of Buenos Aires," clarified the head of government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. With the announcements, the Buenosairean Executive begins to walk by the fine line that implies to move again the activities of the City, but without stopping to look at the curve of evolution of cases , which remains stable, although at the same time it began to grow and became somewhat erratic. Especially this last week, when cases in high-risk sectors such as vulnerable neighborhoods and nursing homes increased .
This Saturday morning, there was another talk of "gradualness" , a term similar to the "gradualism" of the times of Mauricio Macri as president, but with other objectives. Rodríguez Larreta avoided the word "flexible" and used "gradualness" to make it clear that the return to activity will be in stages, with some items that will reopen from Tuesday and others from Thursday. That step by step is necessary to measure the impact that the circulation of people can have on the circulation of the virus.
The new "gradualness" also seems to be geared towards clothing, hairdressing and other businesses that still have to wait . They will not be able to go back to work yet, but the message they are trying to give is that prioritizing the return of commercial activities over leisure, which will be allowed, but drop by drop, it is also thinking about them and the thousands of jobs that they bring together. The Buenosairean government seeks to show that it is working on how to restart the economy , a claim that goes beyond the local administration and also reaches the President.
"The proximity criterion is where you can walk," said Larreta. The goal is to keep the use of public transport at the lowest possible levels. Subways, trains and crowded buses are synonymous with the circulation and spread of the virus. It happened in big cities like New York and nobody here is willing to pay that cost.
Looking at the DNI to know if you can go out to make non-essential purchases will be another novelty. And from this Saturday, the porteños will find more and more stripes painted on the floor of the streets and new provisions for bus stops. And you will have to learn which streets will be completely closed.
Beyond thanking the neighbors for the effort made so far, and although in public they insist that "the quarantine has not ended", it seems to have been heard the claim of those who ask to return to activities.
It is the way to start living with the virus in a city transformed by the advance of the pandemic.
SC