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If the President of the Republic announced two weeks ago a minimum state of emergency, in the renewal that he now proposes that word has disappeared from the political lexicon. Nor could it: the decree to renew the state of emergency, which will remain in force until December 8, substantially increases the range of rights that can now be limited by the Government. The good news is that the mobility restrictions will work at different speeds, depending on the level of infection in each municipality. Worse is Marcelo’s warning: get ready, this will last for months.
Compulsive hospitalizations, health professionals prevented from leaving the National Health Service, companies and establishments subject to time changes or even being closed, less protected personal data and prediction that there may be a breakdown of medicines or medical supplies are some of the possibilities now explained in the decree on the renewal of the state of emergency, more similar to what was in force in the first wave, except for the duty to stay home.
That (not yet?) No: the decree sent to Parliament this Thursday afternoon and that should be approved this Friday, at least by PS and PSD, maintains the forecast that schools, commerce and services will continue to function. even with the restrictions that the Government may decide at each moment and region, depending on the progression of the pandemic. New measures will be announced on Saturday, after another extraordinary Council of Ministers.
This Thursday, it seemed that we had returned to the first months of the pandemic. After four months, politicians met again at Infarmed to hear experts speak about the national epidemiological situation. And what they heard does not rest anyone.
The peak of the second wave of infection has not yet arrived, it is forecast for the next two weeks, and only in the next few weeks will the peak of deaths occur. Manuel Carmo Gomes warned that we can reach a hundred deaths a day on Christmas Eve. As if that were not enough, there is already talk of a possible third place there for February.
Upon leaving the meeting, Marcelo justified the need to keep the country in a state of emergency: “The figures, the trend, the pressure on hospitalizations in intensive care point to that.” Worse still, he warned that it is “a challenge that continues in the coming weeks and months” and announced the “readiness for subsequent renewals of the state of emergency” until “the curve is crushed and a positive evolution has been achieved.”
He did not go as far as Prime Minister António Costa, who had already warned two weeks ago that the state of emergency could last until the end of the pandemic. Marcelo even tried to bring some light to the end of the tunnel, when he repeated what he heard about vaccination in Portugal: vaccines may start arriving in January, but vaccinating the population can take months.
Confinements and clinical data
In a finer reading, the decree proposed to the regulation is much more extensive and explains other situations in which the rights of people, workers and private initiative may be affected. This is the case of the compulsory confinement of infected people, which are explicitly provided for, contrary to what happened in the first decree.
“To the extent strictly necessary and proportional, [pode ser decretado] compulsory confinement in a health facility, at home or, where it is not possible there, in another place defined by the competent authorities, of people with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or under active surveillance ”, reads the list of limitations rights that are now allowed.
It is also there where the differentiation of measures by municipality is now envisaged, “according to the degree of risk of each municipality”, which should “be grouped according to the data and assessment of the competent authorities.”
The presidential decree also explicitly states that it may be necessary to process personal data, for example, to take temperature measurements or perform diagnostic tests, but emphasizes that it will not be allowed to “store memory or record body temperature measurements taken or the results of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests ”.
Regarding private initiative, the possibility is opened of ordering “the total or partial closure of establishments, services, companies or means of production and changes to the respective regime or schedule”.
Anticipating some difficulty in the distribution of medicines and health products, the decree takes up a measure that had been taken in the first phase of the state of emergency, between March and May, and allows the Government to adopt special measures to guarantee “normal production” . , transportation, distribution and supply of essential goods and services for the activity of the health sector ”. The objective is “to ensure access and regularity in the circuit of medicines and vaccines, medical devices and other health products, such as biocides, disinfectant solutions, alcohol and personal protective equipment.”
Another new restriction provided for in this decree refers to the departure, by free initiative, of the employees of the National Health Service, as the PUBLIC had already advanced. “The possibility of terminating the labor relations of workers in the services and establishments integrated in the SNS may be limited.”
Schools and restaurants? The essential thing is the mask
At the end of the Infarmed meeting, which will be held every 15 days, Marcelo came out highlighting that, no matter how many measures are taken, the essence of prevention is the attitude of the people and that, among the already known rules, the most important is the use of a mask. And then, he said, “the Portuguese have been exemplary.
Asked about what experts say about the risk of transmission in schools and restaurants, Marcelo said that experts confirmed that there is no link between classroom teaching and the increase in infections, nor that catering is a risk factor, being predominantly the behavior of women. people.
The president also acknowledged that the level of criticism has increased in relation to the measures enacted by the Government, but affirmed that this is happening in Portugal as in all of Europe. “A study reveals that the rise of the critical sense in relation to governments and the response of health structures corresponds to the worsening of the pandemic,” he emphasized.
