The City advances to enable common spaces of buildings: they define a protocol in which there will be grills, but not SUM

Candela Martin

08/08/2020 - 16:02

• Clarín.com
• Cities

At the beginning of the quarantine for the new coronavirus, the City of Buenos Aires developed a common protocol for the administrators of building consortiums recommending the disqualification of the use of common spaces such as lounges, grills, gyms, pools and gardens. After more than 140 days of Preventive and Obligatory Social Isolation (ASPO) the request of the neighbors to return to use these amenities is increasingly strong and the City responded to that claim.

Facundo Carrillo, secretary of Citizen Attention and Community Management, told Clarín that  the Buenos Aires government advanced in the development of a new protocol that would enable the use of grills and gardens , although not of SUM (Multiple Use Room) and gyms.

"We wrote a protocol that is under review by the Ministry of Health that has to approve the technical content and the appropriateness based on the evolution of the pandemic in the City," said Carrillo.

One of the key points to be able to move forward has to see the evolution of the contagion curve in the district headed by Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. The number will depend on whether the traffic light to unlock these restrictions turns green or remains red.

"This week surely, depending on how the cases progress, we will define whether we maintain the current recommendation or move a little further," he explained.

Progressive opening generates expectations and inquiries at the same time. The Buenosairean official recognized that in the last weeks the number of administrations that ask "for the authorization of use of common spaces increased." From the City, they understand that it cannot govern in the same way for buildings with large towers to small buildings.

As happened with the inexplicable controversy by the runners,  who asked to resume physical exercise in the open air because it implied a very low risk of contagion, the residents of the buildings ask to use the spaces that have been deserted since March 20 under protocol and for which, obviously, they also pay expenses.

If progress is made in a new protocol, as they hope, it will not cover all common spaces, but will be governed by three main axes: the possibility of distancing, for which they propose that there be a system of digital or analog shifts; the issue of disinfection that the site requires after use; and the methodologies of protection and personal care of the neighbors, detailed from the Government of the City.

In this sense, Carrillo stressed that "only the use of the grill is evaluated and not the SUM " . Another piece of information: the proposal proposes "that it be cooked on the grill and eaten in the functional units."

"A SUM with 4 chairs is not the same as one equipped with crockery and greater capacity", justified Carrillo who clarified that neighbors from different functional units on the grill will not be able to cross paths. So the shifts.

And the gyms?

The gymnasiums of the buildings, another unknown in the city.

The common claim among residents of buildings with this type of services has to do with the use of gyms , since those of the City are not enabled, they ask to be able to use those that are within the place where they live.

"The qualification of the gymnasiums of the buildings is under evaluation, it is the most requested" , admitted Carrillo although he knows that it would imply contagion risks. "It is the one with which we have to be more careful because there is a lot of contact material," he said. 

"We believe that a shift system per functional unit can work, with prior and subsequent disinfection, but there is a lot of common handling of materials," said the Buenos Aires official.  Roast yes, but for indoor exercise you still have to wait.

Regarding the use of parks and gardens within large building complexes, enabling them is evaluated by asking for reasonable social distance between family groups or through a shift system.

"There are neighbors who can say with good reason that they live in a tower that has a 3,000-meter park and I cannot use it and they have to go to the neighborhood square where they meet more people than if it is inside the complex," he justified Cheek.

The most important of these possible authorizations is that the entry of people outside the building will not be allowed : "You can not invite people from outside and it would not be enabled either for people at risk who live there," the secretary explained.

Regarding the possible risks of non-compliance with the protocols, Carrillo explains that "the control is through the administrator" and added: "We appeal to the responsibility of the neighbors to comply with the measures that we propose in the protocols."

From the beginning of the quarantine to the present, the City recorded a total of 46,701 building quarantine breaches . 

As has already happened with other opening measures that the City adopted and were criticized by officials of the government of the Province of Buenos Aires, this may reignite the controversy on both sides of General Paz. Carrillo lowered his tone and considered: “They are different districts with different needs and there are different points of view, even within our government there are those different criteria. Until today, all the decisions were made by consensus and this will be seen in the same way ”.

"Possibly this will be included in the conversation packages between the head of the Buenos Aires government and the President of the Nation, Alberto Fernández when the next phase of the quarantine is discussed," said the official and was optimistic: "The City has a number of stable cases for many days, but obviously this decision is based on other objectives ”.