Sebastian Clemente
09/16/2021 18:23
Clarín.com
Cities
Updated 09/16/2021 6:36 PM
Four days before the elections and in the midst of the national government's political crisis, the City announced
new easing
of restrictions to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The main formal change, in a context in which
most of the activities already take place
, whether enabled or not, is that
there will
no
longer be capacity
for social gatherings in homes, commercial and professional activities and common spaces in hotels and buildings. .
The announcement, in the Belgrano Market and together with several of his ministers, was made this Thursday by the Head of Government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who on July 27 had presented a six-stage plan that, at that time, seemed to be fulfilled by a slower pace.
The political campaign for PASO last Sunday was underway.
And everything seemed to indicate that the
Delta variant
was going to expand more than it did so far.
Although it is not ruled out that the number of infections will grow again, especially due to this strain that was
so contagious in Europe and the United States
, this Thursday, and after the
triumph of the opposition in the elections
, Larreta decided to move forward with the opening of activities that in many cases they already occur.
The Buenos Aires subway already has all the stations open, but it continues with a time limit and in the number of stopped passengers.
Therefore, from this Friday " no
longer have restrictions on number of people
and be able to
perform or operate at the
maximum capacity"
of
social gatherings
, both inside and outside the homes.
Nor will
commercial activity
have more capacity limit
, either in premises on the street or in shopping malls and gastronomic establishments. Neither professional activities, including
public administration.
The same will happen with the common spaces of hotels and buildings. In all cases, the suggestion to maintain
distance and use of the mask is maintained.
As for
massive outdoor events
, they will go from a maximum
of 2,500 people to 4,000 people, as
long as the space allows respecting the protocol of
1 person every 2 square meters
.
And for closed spaces, the maximum capacity increases to 4,000 people as long as
the occupancy of 70% of the event venue is not exceeded.
Public transport, as it already happens, is
no longer only for workers in essential items.
And the subway stations are all open.
The pre-pandemic schedule has not yet recovered.
And
the maximum capacities remain in force
(up to 40 people standing per car, in addition to those seated), in addition to the obligation to use a
mask.
Rodríguez Larreta also announced a measure that had already been published in the Official Gazette, which is the
extension of the night hours until 3 o'clock
.
It applies to restaurants, bars and nightclubs, which are only still enabled to work in "gastronomic mode".
I mean, no dance.
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta announced more flexibilities to the restrictions in the City together with part of his team of ministers.
"After a second wave with more than 3,500 daily cases,
the average for the last week is 220.
The R, which is the rate of contagion, has been below 1. It has been at 0.98 for several weeks," he said. Rodríguez Larreta to argue the announcements, and added: "And in relation to the
Delta variant
, at the moment in the City there are
25 cases detected
without travel or links with travelers, who are being followed up."
Other data the official spoke about have to do with the
occupation of intensive care beds.
"After touching peaks of more than 80%, today it is at 9.8% in the public system," he said.
He also reviewed the status of the
vaccination campaign.
"94% of those over 18 years old already have their first dose. And, thanks to the study of combination of vaccines from different manufacturers that was carried out from the City, 70% of those over 18 years old have their two doses applied" , he assured.
For now, the City is sticking with the strategy of completing second dose schedules and did not start with teens ages 12 to 17 who do not have risk factors.
SC
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