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* With Cláudia Gameiro and Mário Rui Fonseca
PUB
As of Monday, April 16, Abrantes, Alcanena and Ourém join Constância and Sardoal in the list of 191 counties of “high risk” of contagion announced by the Prime Minister at the beginning of the afternoon of this Thursday, at the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers. There are other factors (mitigating and aggravating) that are weighted by the public health authorities in the definition of each “risk area”, which may justify the inclusion of Abrantes in this list, although it remains, to this day, below of 240 cases of covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, according to official data that mediotejo.net analyzes daily (see map).
Abrantes has been above 240 cases 5 times in the last two weeks, and it is not clear if the dates considered by the epidemiologists of the Ministry of Health are from October 30 to November 12 (according to the values that we mark on our map and that today the Delegate of Health of the Middle Tagus indicated as the one that would be analyzed), or if data from October 27 or 28 are still included, as other officials say. Depending on the values considered in this analysis, Entroncamento could have entered this list, and Constância and Sardoal could also have left.
In the Middle Tagus region, the municipalities of Chamusca and Ponte de Sor are included in the “high risk” list. All of these counties will be in an “emergency situation” until November 23, governed by stricter rules, with traffic restrictions and curfew periods.
Contacted by mediotejo.net, the mayor of Alcanena, Fernanda Asseiceira, said that it was already an “expected situation”, taking into account the outbreak revealed last weekend in a house in Minde. “The government understood that this precaution was better and we are already prepared,” he revealed. In the municipality there is greater concern in the restaurant sector, and the president calls on the inhabitants to use, as far as possible, take-out and home delivery services to support these small businesses.
The mayor of Ourém, Luís Albuquerque, also told our newspaper that inclusion in this list “is a sign of concern but of greater awareness and awareness so that everyone continues to reinforce the precautions of recent months.” The economy of the city of Fátima, already seriously affected by the pandemic, will be even more affected, but the mayor considers that, despite everything, being a heyday of “low season”, the impacts will not be much more severe than the you have already made them feel.
Manuel Jorge Valamatos, mayor of Abrantes, who is still evaluating the impact of these more restrictive measures on the life of the municipality, sent clarifications for tomorrow.
The mayors of Constância and Sardoal received without much surprise the news that they remain on this list of “high risk” contagion regions.
Sérgio Oliveira says that he still hopes that these measures, together with the attitude of the people, can help reduce the number of contagion cases in the municipality of Constância and in the region, expressing however his concern for the restaurant sector, that will be (even more) affected over the next two weekends.
Miguel Borges, who in addition to being the mayor of Sardoal is also president of the Santarém District Civil Protection Commission, believes that we must look beyond numbers and mathematical criteria, as well as the limits that delimit the municipalities. “The virus knows no borders,” he joked, appealing to everyone’s common sense and a certain “spirit of prudence,” which will be vital to counteract the increase in cases throughout the country.
Sardoal was, in the last three days, already below 240 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, but Miguel Borges has the indication that they were still considered values of October 27. Also, he warns, “there are still a lot of people doing tests.” Keeping your municipality on the high risk list is a fact that you will not regret, despite all the negative impacts that additional restrictions have on the local economy. “The Chamber has been supporting merchants and will continue to try to minimize their losses,” he said.
In addition to the mandatory curfew, municipalities with a high risk of transmission of covid-19 have, since November 4, a set of other special measures, including the duty to stay at home, mandatory teleworking, the closure of shops until 10:00 p.m. and restaurants until 10:30 p.m., and the prohibition of events and celebrations with more than five people, unless they belong to the same household.
In the next two weekends, there will continue to be a total closure of commercial and catering establishments from 1:00 p.m., with authorization to open only from 8:00 a.m., a measure that the Prime Minister regretted having to present in a “more restrictive ”, due to attempts by some sectors to“ circumvent ”the rules of the state of emergency.
* C / the day after tomorrow
