Federico Mayol
04/05/2021 4:17 PM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 04/05/2021 20:56
Fernán Quirós and Felipe Miguel left earlier, almost at 6 in the afternoon, and walked a few meters to the offices that the City still has in the old headquarters of Bolívar 1: the head of government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, and Diego were waiting for them. Santilli, to break down the details of the meeting at Casa Rosada.
Carlos Bianco and Nicolás Kreplak,
who joined at the last minute to replace Daniel Gollán, were still in Santiago Cafiero's offices with Carla Vizzotti: the Buenos Aires officials left the Government House about twenty minutes later.
Without definitions, and with differences due to the restrictions to be implemented amid the dizzying increase in coronavirus cases - in the last hours 272 new deaths were confirmed, the highest figure in the last two months -, the City and Province officials analyzed during More than an hour the epidemiological situation in the Metropolitan Area centered on the night and on public transport, and from official sources they assure, as this newspaper advanced, that Friday could be "D-Day" in decision-making.
Although last night they did not rule out that between Tuesday and Wednesday there may be news: officials have to finish agreeing on the steps to follow with their respective bosses.
That is, with the President, the Governor and the Head of Government.
Friday is when the decree that extended the distancing measures expires.
Isolated by coronavirus, Alberto Fernández wants to talk again this week with the governors and share the cost of the measures.
In what they did agree both from the Nation, as well as from the City and Province is that the second wave is already a fact.
As in the most complex moments of last year,
the Buenos Aires administration governs the political and media strategy of showing caution in the face of imminent announcements.
To oppose the provincial management, which in the last week tired the media with a much harsher message in terms of future restrictions.
This Tuesday, Vizzotti will speak at a press conference at Casa Rosada: they presented it as "a new weekly communication space."
And another meeting is expected, after noon, between the three administrations to bring positions closer together, before the talk that
Rodríguez Larreta and Axel Kicillof will have,
who spoke last week twice: on Wednesday and Friday.
Later, they did it, separately, with the head of state.
In that sense, Bianco and Kreplak arrived at Casa Rosada this Monday with a folder with three specific axes:
social gatherings, nightlife and public transport, which for a long time has not had controls, despite the fact that it is still reserved for essential workers.
"We work in different scenarios", agreed both from the City and from the Province.
Although official sources stressed that, in the meeting, the Buenos Aires position was much tougher than the Buenos Aires one.
"We propose to discuss strong restrictive measures while progressing with vaccination," they said from the Kicillof administration.
The key, they trust from both administrations, goes through the night:
the implementation of a cut in mobility that, according to sources, is discussed from 10 o'clock (the position of the Province) or 12 o'clock at night (the Buenos Aires position) , and until the early hours of the morning.
The eventual measure already causes, anyway,
some friction in the cabinet of the City.
Due to the cost in the economic activity of the gastronomic sector.
At the Buenos Aires headquarters on Calle Uspallata, they assure that the occupancy of therapy beds has not yet reached 40%.
And that can still be expected.
However, both city and province officials
do venture that, after the meetings in the next few hours, they will have to agree on a schedule of nighttime restrictions.
"You have to find the right point," they explained from Casa Rosada.
The national government once again puts itself in the role of mediator of both administrations.
Alarm for the increase in cases
While the Government and the provinces evaluate new restrictions to contain the impact of the second wave of the pandemic,
this Monday 272 deaths from coronavirus were confirmed in Argentina
, the highest number in two months.
In addition, there were 13,667 new cases, so the country exceeded 2.4 million infections.
Two other relevant data: for the second consecutive day
the City broke its daily record of new infections (2,428)
and the positivity rate - which measures how many tested have the virus - remains very high, almost 30%.
It is triple what is recommended by the WHO.
The death toll is the highest since February 5,
when there were 285. In recent days - during the Easter holidays - the daily reports had not exceeded 100 fatalities.
