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After the regression of the MR, the changes in this stage will also allow the opening of terraces in cities with greater viral circulation than Santiago, mainly in the south of the country.
After the announcement of the regression to Phase 2 of the Metropolitan region in the Step by Step Plan, the authority immediately announced some changes in the restrictions, several of them that were initially allowed only after Step 4.
For example, restaurants and cafes will be able to serve customers, but only on terraces and from Monday to Friday, except holidays. In addition, schools can continue to function if they were already with face-to-face classes. Even the Government reported that the Metropolitan Park, the Tupahue pool and the zoo will remain open in this period.
And although the situation was changed as a result of Santiago reaching this condition, the measure will also be valid for other cities -mainly in the south of the country- that have already been in Step 2 for several weeks.
For example, they will be able to reopen stores in Iquique, Puerto Montt and mainly the communes of Gran Concepción. And although they can only serve on terraces from Monday to Friday and with sanitary measures, in practice it could involve risks considering that when drinking or eating it is impossible to use a mask. To this is added another factor: the viral circulation in Concepción or Puerto Montt to date is much higher compared to Santiago.
In the commune of Santiago can open a restaurant with 203 active cases and a incidence rate of 40.3, according to the latest epidemiological report published by the Ministry of Health last Friday. While, Conception You can do it too, but with 398 active cases and a much higher incidence: 168. Montt port, for its part, presents 353 active cases and a rate of incidence of 131. And both are cities with significantly less population than the capital.
A similar scenario occurs in the case of High Bridge, where there are 256 active cases. You could say that it is similar to what you live Talcahuano, with 253 assets. The problem is that the first has a rate of 42.1 while in the port it is 155.4. However, both communes may open restaurants.
It is in this context that the doctor who is a member of the Chamber’s Health Commission, the deputy Juan Luis Castro (PS), accused that the measure has a “fine print”, because “the restaurants will be able to open on the terraces” despite the fact that in “Phase 2 they could not be opened. And the schools that are already open have no reason to close ”.
“What are we talking about?” Asked the parliamentarian. “A little here and a little there. We are walking along the middle side of the road, but we do not give people all the tools to be able to fight the virus, ”he stressed. In his opinion, “Piñera always has the dilemma of the economy and health (…) that is the drama that we have in the conduct of this pandemic by this President,” he said.
In the same line, Gonzalo bacigalupe, a professor at the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree in Public Health from Harvard, ironically reproached the changes. On his Twitter, he shared an illustration of Damivago depicting Minister Paris with a test tube saying: “The entire Metropolitan region goes back to Phase 2, with some Phase 3 and a pinch of Phase 4.” In his view, the announcement of the authority is the creation of a Step 2.5.
“Clearly a change was negotiated in how the step-by-step works without considering the health dimension. We are at the mercy of the owner of the department store, “he accused. Still, he believes this moment is an opportunity to establish a real TTA (Test, Trace and Isolate) strategy and campaign around aerosol transmission.
On the one hand, the national secretary of the Medical College, Jose Miguel Bernucci, admitted that “We would have liked the modification regarding restaurants to be a little more restrictive”.
“Glass half full”
However, “seeing the glass as half full”, the professional assured that “indeed, international evidence indicates that contagion with aerosols plays a much more prominent role than was thought in a first stage and, therefore, open spaces they could provide a higher degree of security than enclosed spaces. It could be not so bad, “he said in conversation with CNN Chile.
Regarding the schools, he maintained a similar line: “We as a Medical College have indicated that the educational communities and the authorities should sit down and talk. The schools that are already operating, if they have done it properly, if the measures that have been taken have not generated a greater number of infections, we believe that, like many countries in Europe, we have to make every effort to keep those communities running. If those communities agreed and have worked so far, we believe they can be put into operation. For the communities that still cannot reach an agreement, we do not have to wait for 2021, the changes have to be made, the conversations, the improvements now in those enclosures so that eventually in 2021 they can open ”, he remarked.
Ernesto Laval, a computer engineer and an expert in data visualization, regardless of the risks that the situation could generate in regions, told BioBioChile – in a line similar to Bernucci – that the signal that is being given in the Metropolitan region is important, beyond the specific opening measures.
“The heart of the signal is that we are taking action much earlier compared to other regions and not having to wait for the incidence to rise above other critical thresholds to say: ‘give the signal that we are moving backwards” “, assured.
However, he agrees that in regions it was late. “When you see what happened in La Araucanía, which went from Step 4 to Step 2 when we were already at very critical levels of contagion and it was not possible to contain it and then we had to go into quarantine … then we have been in quarantine for more than a month without the levels having dropped substantially. A very similar situation occurred in Los Ríos ”, he explained.
“We have applied it badly and late in the south. And I hope this (the reversal in the MRI) responds to what we are learning “, he remarked.
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