Labor mobility and the holes in the plan put the effectiveness of the Madrid closure in check

A group of citizens were walking this Thursday in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid). Fernando Villar / EFE

24 hours after the deadline given by the Ministry of Health for the Community of Madrid to decree the closure of 10 municipalities, including the capital, the plan remains in the air.

There are many unanswered questions.

Especially for the closure of a city like Madrid, which has communication hubs such as Barajas airport, Atocha station or Chamartín station.

The plan should be a filter to prevent mobility and the spread of the virus, but in reality it is a drain that jeopardizes the effectiveness of the closure and possibly its ultimate purpose of containing contagions.

Isolating a city like Madrid is a practically impossible task to manage.

Only between the capital and the rest of the municipalities in the region, more than 2.2 million trips are produced daily, according to the latest regional Mobility Survey, with data from 2018. Thus, it seems clear that the task of controlling trips is very complicated by volume.

In addition, most would have an exception to be able to enter and leave the city, since more than 40% of trips in the region are for work or studies.

That is, the effect that Health seeks will be blurred because there is a lot of mobility and, in addition, many exceptions.

In any case, some epidemiologists emphasize that the effectiveness of these measures will not depend so much on mobility restrictions as on the tracking, testing and isolation of patients.

Joan Ramon Villalbí, director of the Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (Sespas), says that this has always been the essence of epidemic control.

Therefore, regarding the limitations of movements, he observes that the fact of dividing cities or metropolises does not mean that he will fail in his objective of reducing the number of infections.

"It is easier to confine small municipalities than a large city, but there are examples of limitations in neighborhoods of large cities that have worked, such as in L'Hospitalet," says Villalbí.

The new confinements in large cities - something very similar would happen with Barcelona - pose a huge challenge.

In spring it was done, yes, but now it will be much more complicated because the restriction will not be in the whole territory.

It is very difficult to control, for example, if a driver traveling from Pozuelo de Alarcón to Madrid does so to work at the Primark on Gran Vía (allowed) or to buy in that same store (prohibited when coming from another city).

The current difficult casuistry will affect Madrid capital, Alcobendas, Parla, Torrejón de Ardoz, Alcorcón, Getafe, Leganés, Fuenlabrada, Móstoles and Alcalá de Henares for the moment.

They are all part of a great metropolis where sometimes a street is the border between a city with restrictions and another without restrictions.

These limitations will also translate into an increase in controls on infrastructures such as airports and railway stations in the affected cities, according to sources from the Ministries of the Interior and Transport.

These are hot spots, with a lot of traffic.

The operation is not yet known and the detail remains to be defined.

"Recent experience will be the basis for these new cases," say Interior spokesmen.

Another critical communication route is the highways, especially those for access and exit from restricted populations.

"The devices that are designed will ensure the limitation of movements on all types of roads, also interurban," explain sources from the ministry.

These tasks will be carried out by the Police and the Civil Guard.

Despite the evident intensification of the controls, sources from the Administration clarify that it will not result in a disproportionate increase of agents in the streets and there will be a mixture of random controls with other semi-permanent ones.

"It will depend on the needs and characteristics of each case," they say.

On the justification of the trips, another issue to be decided, Interior affirms that it will not issue safe-conduct.

In other words, there will be no official model to justify the reason for entering or leaving an affected municipality.

This, in principle, will not pose a problem because the order to the agents is proportionality, although it leaves a gap open to subjectivity in each case.

In this situation, everything is at the expense of the detail of the norm, although sources from the regional government assure that they will request precautionary measures from the National Court to avoid having to apply the restrictions.

Thus, everything is suspended.

Interior sources, for example, explain that until there is a rule they will not be able to design their operations.

Furthermore, it remains to be seen whether the number of security forces and bodies will increase in the region.

The mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, complained this Thursday that with the deployment of local agents, the region cannot enforce the new measures.

Madrid capital has deployed 250 municipal police officers.

The delegation of the Government in Madrid has responded to him to tell him how many troops, where and for what he wants them.

This is one day before the new restrictions come into effect.

Other legal debates are added to this uncertainty.

For example: can a tourist enter Madrid?

Not at the beginning.

But if it is a foreign visitor, no autonomous community may deny entry to the country.

The problem is enormous at this point due to the agreements in Europe.

“They may not allow going from Madrid to Cuenca, but if someone wants to go to Paris or London, there are many doubts that they can deny it.

In any case, it would be the other country that would deny entry ”, explain legal sources.

The mess is higher if it is a foreign citizen who wants to enter without Spain notifying previously the closure of borders.

At the moment, the rest of the countries have not been notified of any travel restrictions to Madrid.

"When the rule comes into force, it will be conveniently informed," say Foreign Ministry spokesmen.

Asking about this point in different ministries involved creates uncomfortable silences in the face of an issue that has not been addressed.

Although this is still secondary, especially due to the tsunami of displacements that will occur every day, some justified and others not.

It will be like putting doors to the field.

And in this case it is huge.

Information about the coronavirus

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