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Together with the State Government, the City of Salvador announced, on Thursday (7), that the center of the Bahian capital and the neighborhoods of Boca do Rio and Plataforma will have more stringent restrictive measures starting this Saturday (9). Some access blockages and test bombings, in addition to other activities, will be promoted by the municipal administration in these places to delay the progress of the new coronavirus pandemic in the capital of Bahia.
Initially, the actions of the city council will last seven days, but there is the possibility of renovation and extension of the blocks to other areas of the city with registered agglomerations. If it rains a lot this weekend in Salvador, the city will postpone the adoption of the blockades until Monday (11).
At the press conference, Governor Rui Costa legitimized the planning carried out by the city of Salvador. “Bahia, being a very large state, the size of France, we take the option of adopting measures to restrict social coexistence and progressive measures of social protection, according to the region, with the city, always in dialogue with Therefore, we are going to announce measures to restrict the movement of people so that we can reduce this rate [de contaminação]”, said.
According to Mayor ACM Neto, the restrictive measures cannot be called emergency shutdown, since this more extreme action implies a total and obligatory isolation. The municipality’s strategy is to regionalize its actions in the three determined places.
The decision to ban the Center, Boca do Rio and Plataforma was made based on mobility data, related to the circulation of buses and other vehicles on the streets, as well as the flow of people transported in the buses. The city council also took into account information on non-compliance with the decrees, such as commercial establishments that insist on opening doors, in addition to the number of confirmed cases of covid-19 in the neighborhoods. “This is an important base because in some places we noticed that the flow of people and vehicles was approaching a normal flow,” explained the mayor.
What are the restrictions?
The municipal administration has ensured that public transport will remain unchanged, that is, the population will have full access to buses, the metro and other public means. However, some roads will be banned in the announced regions, which will take place from 7 a.m. at 7 p.m. This means that all vehicles passing through certain routes will be boarded and those that do not reside in the area will not be able to access during the stipulated interval. Only residents can move freely through these places at any time of the day, upon presentation of proof of residence.
On Joana Angélica Avenue, in the Center, the administration proposed a total ban on the road, which goes from Campo da Pólvora to Praça da Piedade. In this section, there will be six traffic barriers on the side streets that give access to the Mouraria and Tororó neighborhoods. Avenida Sete de Setembro, which is located at the intersection with Av. Joana Angélica, has been closed since the beginning of April due to requalification work and will have a traffic barrier.
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| Interdiction statement in the center (Photo: Playback / Social Networks) |
With 35 cases of covid-19, Boca do Rio saw a jump in the flow of public transport, which went from 27% in April to 35% in the first week of May alone. The circulation numbers of the other vehicles increased further, from 50% to 85% compared to the same period. Due to these rates, the city government proposed a total ban on Rua Hélio Machado, where there is strong trade. 10 traffic barriers will be installed on the side streets to the east (see map).
In Plataforma, which so far has 32 cases, the proposal was to intercept a section of Avenida Suburbana, in the Largo do Luso region. There will be no traffic barriers in this area.
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| See the traffic proposal for Boca do Rio presented by the city council (Photo: Playback / Social Networks) |
All commercial activities (formal and informal) as well as non-essential services will be prohibited. This does not apply to supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and lotteries.Understand what the blockade is, which can be adopted in Salvador
The mayor also explained that other places in the city need adjustments. “We cannot close the traffic in Lima and Silva and Feirinha because if it were not for the city. I hope that these measures can have a pedagogical nature. Therefore, they will have the full attention of the city council. We will be in dialogue with the residents and we want that it’s a model. From there, the operation will expand, until we can inspire other neighborhoods to avoid stricter action in the future. So that word, “blockade,” need not be part of our vocabulary, “said Neto.
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| ACM Net at a press conference this Thursday afternoon (7) (Photo: Playback / YouTube) |
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| Rui Costa also participates in the collective remotely (Photo: Playback / YouTube) |
Full lock is not ruled out
In announcing the blockades on Wednesday (6), Mayor ACM Neto did not rule out the possibility of extending it to the entire capital. “The total closure was treated as a hypothesis during a meeting between the city council and the state government on Monday (4). However, the dialogue takes place daily and, if necessary, we will take the necessary measures. We will observe the behavior of people during the isolation that we will do in some areas of the city, starting on Saturday, and then we will analyze whether it will be necessary to extend the action to the entire city, ”he explained.
Public transport will also undergo changes because there has been an increase in the number of passengers in the last week. Before, only 28% of users used the system, but that number has increased to 35% in recent days. The increased circulation of people just when the virus is most active in the city worries the authorities.
As of Wednesday morning (6), Salvador had 128 ICU beds and 238 occupied clinical beds. Together, the city, state and private networks offer 489 ICU accommodations and 444 clinics. As of Wednesday morning, there were 2,599 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Salvador alone. Across Bahia, there are 4,247 patients.
According to forecasts, if the contamination rate continues at 7%, starting on the 14th, there will be no more clinical beds available and, on May 20, the ICU will end. The peak of the crisis will continue until June 23, when the pollution curve will finally start to fall.
Pituba is the neighborhood with the highest number of infected people in Salvador to date. On Monday (4), the Municipal Health Secretariat published the list of the most affected regions of the city. In Pituba there are 65 confirmed cases, followed by Brotas (52), Patamares (37), Bonfim (31), Federación (29), Liberdade (25), Engenho Velho de Brotas (24), Imbuí (24) and Uruguay (24 ) In the popular neighborhoods, the movement of people on the streets is greater and this has also caught the attention of the authorities.
In a note, the State Health Department (Sesab) reported that there is still no reason for the total blockade in Salvador, but that this can happen if new respirators do not arrive to open beds in the ICU, there are not enough professionals to open new ones. beds and increase the growth rate of new cases. The folder emphasized that the government has been planning to open new beds throughout Bahia.
Isolation from the state
The Bahia government also does not rule out the adoption of the blockade in the state, but at the moment there are no forecasts for that. The state administration reported that this decision depends on the evolution of the growth rate in Bahia. Total isolation, if adopted, should also not occur in all states at the same time. The matter is exclusively discussed by the government crisis office at this time.
About ten days ago, Governor Rui Costa requested the support of the Armed Forces to Ensure compliance with state and municipal decrees in the southern region of Bahia. Since March, representatives of the Navy, Army and Air Force in the state have been available to the government to help. However, after agreeing to help in the southern state, the Armed Forces announced that they could not provide support without explaining why.
The government says that if necessary and there is interest, it will again accept the support of the Armed Forces in the future.
