More controls and the January experience: how the municipalities of the Province will enforce the new restrictions

Fabian Debesa

03/30/2021 17:31

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 03/30/2021 5:35 PM

The intermediate solution that the Buenos Aires government found to face the beginning of the announced

"second wave"

of infections without resorting to

extreme measures

is based on two pillars: the control task that the mayors must carry out so that the reduction of the nocturnal and the

"successful" antecedent of early summer.

In the first month of 2021, when the aftermath of the Holidays, street marches and the start of the season triggered epidemiological indicators, Axel Kicillof applied a “tourniquet” on

nighttime activity

and managed to stop the stampede of cases.

In the week of January 4 to 10, Buenos Aires registered a peak of 4,510 average daily COVID-19 infections, just 300 infected less than the maximum recorded since the pandemic began (between September 28 and October 4, when there were 4,867).

It was the start of the

summer season

and all the alerts turned red.

v 1.5

New restrictions in 110 Buenos Aires municipalities

Tap to explore the data

Infographic:

Clarín

Then, the governor announced caps on the operation of recreational facilities, focused on the coastal districts, where thousands of vacationers traveled.

The Province had deployed the

"Operation from Sun to Sun"

, of the Buenos Aires Police, which intensified the controls at dawn.

There were more than 900 procedures to disrupt

clandestine parties

and the mayors reinforced the roster of inspectors.

A month and a half later, epidemiological indicators were reduced by almost half (2,300 cases a day on average between February 15 and 21).

Although the resistance of the virus, the arrival of new strains and the limitation in the

scope of the vaccination plan

began to reverse the trend.

Little by little, the positive and bed occupancy curves began to rise and on the verge of the second wave, Buenos Aires resumed the growth rate, with a jump that reaches a 215% increase if the comparison parameter is taken Sunday, February 28 (1,283 cases) against last Sunday (3,572 infected).

As defined by the Minister of Health,

Daniel Gollán

, it is "an almost explosive dimension that is taking the confirmation of cases."

The situation led the health system to have

61% occupancy of ICU beds in the suburbs and 38% in the interior

.

A worrying panorama, although "it is not collapsed", according to the evaluation made by the authorities.

The "not bitter" remedy that the Province decided to apply consists of suspending, as of this Wednesday, all activities between 2 and 6, with the exception of essential and productive activities in

110 municipalities defined as in "phase 4"

.

They also defined lowering the maximum number of people who can meet in “social or family” meetings from 20 to 10.

It reaches all the districts of the metropolitan area, the big cities of the interior and the

tourist communes of the coast.

Only 25 cities with less than 20,000 inhabitants are excluded from this limitation.

Control operations on the Atlantic Coast during January.

Now the controls and the night closings will return.

Photo: Courtesy La Capital / Mauricio Arduin

The measures were agreed between Sunday and Monday in virtual meetings that Kicillof, the Chief of Staff, Carlos Bianco, and the Minister of Government, Teresa García, had with each of the mayors.

Some may even be more rigorous if the plague looms:

in Berisso they have already decided to close the nightclubs at midnight.

On the

municipal

level

will fall the responsibility of the controls

.

Each district should develop strategies to verify that entertainment venues (breweries, restaurants, bars) close their doors between 2 and 6 in the morning.

Now

the Buenos Aires reinforcement agents will no longer be there.

It is the point that raises questions about the level of compliance with the new restrictions.

"We are coordinating with mayors of the province and with the authorities of the Nation and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires to reinforce controls and

ensure compliance with regulations,"

Bianco clarified in a press conference.

“We are facing a very complicated scenario.

We need a

high level of commitment from the public

to comply with the protocols ”, admitted Gollan.

Kicillof's decision avoids

extreme measures

that –assesses the Government- would be difficult to accept in the community.

For now, the presence program in Buenos Aires schools that began on March 1, has not been reviewed.

The return of the boys to the classrooms, after almost a year of virtual education

"is under permanent evaluation," they 

warn close to the governor.

La Plata (Correspondent)

SC