The Xunta de Galicia announced this afternoon the new restrictions that will take effect on Friday at 3:00 p.m.. The president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has been in charge of listing the affected places, which add up to a total of 60 councils and affect 60% of the population. In addition, the closure of the hotel business in the affected areas, which can only continue to operate in the format of home delivery and collection at the premises. Further, the practice of sport is limited in these territories and it can only be done individually in closed spaces (in the open air the rules remain as they have been before regarding competitions and capacity limitations).
In addition, it has been announced that non-essential activities and face-to-face services will be restricted. In this line, the activities that can continue their normal performance are: trips to and from work, to go to class, for the necessary care of elders and minors and medical movements. The business will continue to operate as before and the capacity in stores and cinemas, theaters and auditoriums will be updated.
The restrictions that go into effect on Friday will last for at least one month. These are the groups of municipalities that form perimeters in which it is possible to change city council.
- A Coruña (A Coruña, Arteixo, Culleredo, Cambre and Oleiros).
- Santiago (Santiago, Ames, Boqueixón, Oroso, O Pino, Teo, Trazo, Val do Dubra and Vedra)
- Ferrol (Ferrol, Ares, Fene, Neda, Narón and Mugardos)
- Ourense (Ourense, Barbadás, Amoeiro, Coles, Pereiro de Aguiar, San Cibrao das Viñas and Toén)
- Pontevedra (Pontevedra, Vilaboa, Pontecaldelas, Poio, Marín, Barro, Campolameiro, Cededo-Cotobade and Soutomaior)
- Vigo (Vigo, Mos, Nigrán, Gondomar, Porriño and Redondela)
- Salnés: Cambados, Vilagarcía de Arousa and Vilanova de Arousa.
- Deza-Tabeirós: To Estrada, Lalín and Silleda.
Also apply measures in municipalities with high accumulated incidence such as: Lugo, Vimianzo, Monforte, Burela, Viveiro, O Carballiño, Verín, Xinzo, Cangas, Ponteareas, Tui and O Grove. On the rest of the areas located outside the areas of maximum restrictions The Xunta has stipulated that the exits of users outside the residences be limited and family visits are preserved within the current health regulations, in addition to that the capacity limitations will be increased to a third in the common areas of the shopping centers (and inside the stores at 50%), in addition to other capacity limitations in collective public transport that They will be specified in the Official Gazette of Galicia (DOG).
In addition, in the least affected areas Up to six non-cohabiting participants can meet and in areas with stricter restrictions it is still in force the norm of meetings only of cohabitants without limit of people.
“You have to reset the system”
The president of the Xunta specified during his speech that “yesterday the 600 new infections were exceeded in 24 hours ” and that “the reality is that we must collectively try to stop the trend of the last 15 days because the main indicators are getting worse and Galicia does not aspire to be better than anyone but to be better than itself “.
“You have to reset the system and put it back on comfortable counters from the point of view of the pandemic regarding the number of active daily cases and the incidence percentage “, explained Feijóo, to clarify that after a meeting with the clinical committee “long and with debate” decisions were made such as tightening restrictions on 60 Galician city councils of the four provinces that represent 60% of the community in addition to 17 municipalities with a high accumulated incidence, of 200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Furthermore, Feijóo spoke of the “O Carballiño model”, In other words, the aim of the autonomous government is to impose in these areas indicated during the press conference and that constitute the areas with the highest incidence in the community, restrictions equal to those that were imposed weeks ago in this region of Ourense. In this sense, the President of Galicia explained that this option was chosen because “it was possible to reduce the incidence to more than half in 14 days and in the seven-day rate even 75% “.
“This curve proves that this model applied in O Carballiño works, in a place that exceeded 1,000 cases in the last 14 days and that was in an extreme situation “, He stated, to which he added that the axes of this model of restrictions are: the closure of the interior of the establishments, the perimeter closure of the councils and the closure of essential services. “With this the rate collapses”, he pointed, to which he added that “Yes there will be more flexible limits for cultural agendas and other minor issues”. Regarding mobility, it was specified that movements between neighboring councils with a similar epidemiological situation will be allowed, as is the case of Lalín and Silleda, Vilanova and Vilagarcía de Arousa or A Coruña and Arteixo, among other options. Besides, it will not be possible to avoid the perimeter closures delimited in the seven large Galician cities and other areas if not for just cause.
“Hopefully together we can save the Christmas campaign”
Feijóo stressed that “it is important to comply with the restrictions so that businesses can reopen in December, one of the times of greatest consumption “, At the same time, he addressed the employees of the hospitality sector and assured that tomorrow at the Council of the Xunta they will analyze possible measures to support this sector so affected“. “Hopefully together we can save the Christmas campaignThe possibility is not guaranteed but we are going to try, “he said.
Regarding this sector, the regional president clarified that “They are not the transmitters of the virus, but people” and specified that “The hoteliers see the health threat but also endanger their way of life”, lament. From the autonomic government they transferred that these “clear and forceful decisions will be in force initially for the next four weeks “, but that if “a decrease in incidence and the fulfillment of objectives is observed for several continuous days, these limitations may exceptionally be lifted in some municipalities”. “These measures are here to stay for 30 days and the curfew remains from 23:00 to 06:00 hours as before,” Feijóo said sharply.
Likewise, he also had criticism and references to the Government, on which he said that the Xunta “will maintain constitutional loyalty” but pointed out that “they disagree with many decisions and behaviors of the Sánchez executive”, while ruling that “the option of waiting to make decisions like the central government was easier but for Galicia it is something unaffordable “. “It would be easy to tempt a second confinement but it is important to try to avoid it together because it would have dramatic consequences and enormous social and economic effects.”
“We are far from the hospital stress of the first wave”
Feijóo assured that “We are far from the hospital stress of the first wave of the pandemic” and that right now there is 80 people in ICUs, which is a 50% less of those admitted to intensive care during the peak recorded last April. “We cannot wait to occupy 60 or 70% of the ICUs with covid pathology because oncological and cardiological pathologies are put at risk. We think that we have to adopt these restrictions even if we are in a more comfortable situation than that of the first wave, “commented the president of the Xunta.
In this area, the regional president wanted to emphasize that “Galicia is one of the territories with the best epidemiological behavior and is among the three communities on the peninsula with the lowest incidence rate and among the top five in Spain”, although he made it clear that “being better than in other parts of the country can be no comfort or excuse for relaxation.”
“In order to bend the curve again, it is necessary to redouble care and precautions and continue insisting on restrictions. The longer it takes to act, the more profound will be the impact on the economy,” he warned. To draw attention to the seriousness of the situation, Feijóo provided key data such as that “since October 14 a dangerous rebound has been observed with a cumulative incidence of 111%”, apart from the fact that It has gone from 4,569 cases on October 14 to 9,119 on October 30 and today, November 4, Galicia is at 9,642. “The last fortnight of October had an impact of more than 100% increase in new infections in terms of the total number, the rate at one week and 14 days, “the president specified.
“The pandemic is long and nobody sees a concrete ending horizon and the lives of patients and professionals in hospitals are being tough, as in health centers and residences for the elderly and for the disabled. This is demoralizing and traumatic for the families that suffer and will suffer the economic consequences of the limitations that we have to impose on ourselves, “acknowledged the president of the Xunta. Even so, he wanted to be optimistic and clarified that “There is a difference compared to March” because he recalled that at the beginning of the pandemic “they did not know what to expect from the decisions they made”, on which he assured that “Now the experts are no longer going blind and that should give security and motivation for the coming months.”
“Faced with the virus, no possibility can be ruled out”
Feijóo specified that “the guarantee of beds available in hospitals and ICU“is the objective they pursue in each of the measures they have adopted, adopt and will adopt in the future” and that the objectives are “reduce hospital pressure, save the Christmas campaign and avoid home confinement.”
“Faced with the virus, no possibility can be ruled out and these measures are precisely to avoid confinement. With these decisions we anticipate other territories in Spain “, concluded the president of the Xunta, who emphasized that” there will be no more changes between now and Friday. “
