It has already been several days since Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, announced the deconfinement plan. Divided into several phases, it includes strict rules on what can and cannot be done. However, some questions remained unanswered, and the announcement of a limitation of terraces to 30% of their capacity required clarification from the Spanish government. In the end, the bars will be able to see their terraces at 50% of their capacity. Regarding meetings between people, they will be possible up to 10 people, while respecting social distancing. Lisbob, the expatriate assistant, tells you all about these rules of deconfinement in Spain.
Spain will allow meetings of up to 10 people and terraces at 50% of their capacity in phase 1
The Spanish government has announced that it will allow meetings of ten people within the safety distance and that the terraces could open to 50% of their capacity. When phase 1 of the “desescalada” plan is reached, meetings will be authorized between a maximum of ten people and while keeping a distance between each person, whether at home and on outdoor terraces.
Baleares and Canary Islands move directly to phase 1 of the de-escalation plan. On the 11th, there will be added the territories which will have a “good evolution of the epidemic”: low incidence of cases and sufficient capacity to diagnose and quickly isolate the new cases of contagion that occur. With phase 1 comes the possibility of finding family or friends, but of course without the presence of vulnerable people, with symptoms of coronavirus or people in quarantine for having been in contact with a patient.
These meetings can take place in a bar or in a restaurant. The Spanish government has rectified its initial intention to allow a capacity of 30% of the terraces to open in phase 1. Indeed, and after protests from the hotel sector which assured that with these conditions they could not open , it will ultimately be a capacity of 50%. Tables should be placed so that there is sufficient distance between customers. The outdoor markets will have a capacity of 25% and religious celebrations can take place with a maximum of 30% of occupation.
In order to be able to move on to the next phase, the communities must request it one week in advance. Each phase will last at least 14 days, which corresponds to the maximum incubation period for the virus. To determine if an area can move on to the next phase, the Spanish government will assess the situation with the autonomous community to which it belongs.
The Spanish deconfinement plan creates certain paradoxes
Spanish Civil Protection will distribute six million protective masks in the main public transport stations. In addition, he will deliver seven more to the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and 1.5 million to the Red Cross, Cáritas and Cermi (500,000 each), so that they can distribute them among the groups that 'they represent or serve.
At the beginning of the outbreak there was a shortage of protective masks in pharmacies and the Spanish government considered its use as "recommended" due to the difficulty of maintaining the safe distance by metro or bus. Now, and while some large retail chains have started selling masks, some are sold in pharmacies, they will be mandatory in public transport.
