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“We are in time to be able to control the situation, to be able to control the curve [de novos casos], if we are capable of a political truce. We have to stop looking for culprits ”, continued the vice president of the Community of Madrid, underlining that a greater participation of the central government “is necessary and urgent”. “It is absolutely impossible to end a pandemic of these characteristics only from the regional government”, considers Aguado.
Aguado communicated this decision to the president of the autonomous community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, without clarifying, however, if he will ask the Pedro Sánchez executive to declare a state of emergency.
“You have to do everything possible to control the situation in Madrid. I want to make that very clear ”, underlined the Spanish Minister of Health, Salvador Illa. “This is the key point,” he concluded. Madrid registers more than 2,700 patients hospitalized for Covid-19, of which 371 are in intensive care. The community accumulates more than 15 thousand deaths and 180 thousand confirmed cases.
In addition to being the center of the pandemic in the country, Madrid is the heart of the road and rail network, home to the country’s main airport and the workplace of thousands of inhabitants of neighboring regions who travel to the region daily.
For these reasons, The evolution of the pandemic in the Community of Madrid is a national problem and raises concern on the part of the regional presidents, who even consider it a risk for the rest of the communities.
The president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, said that 80 percent of the cases diagnosed in the region come from “the viral radioactive bomb that was placed in Madrid.” As García-Page continues to defend, the The evolution of the pandemic in this and other regions will depend, “above all, on what is controlled or not controlled in Madrid.”
Change of strategy
The attractiveness of Ignacio Aguado seems to even reflect what the vice president himself called “Political truce”. On the one hand internally, because he takes the initiative according to the president of the Community of Madrid, whom he declared to provide “all the support”, taking into account that Díaz Ayuso is his government partner and his electoral rival. On the other hand, externally, since breaks with months of an antagonistic strategy. The Community of Madrid thus goes on to challenge many of the measures promulgated by the Pedro Sánchez executive, namely, the state of exception established from March to June – arguing that it would not allow the pandemic to be managed autonomously – now requesting the intervention of the central government in fighting the pandemic.
Daniela Santiago, RTP correspondent in Madrid
This drastic change in strategy does not convince the president of the Vox political party in the Community of Madrid. “What I see here is indecision,” said Rocío Monasterio, arguing that the role of the regional government “is to govern, not to transfer responsibilities to third parties.”
From declaring a state of emergency and confining the region to wearing a mask, The Ayuso executive has run into the Sánchez government in almost all decisions and therefore has been questioned about its pandemic control strategy. On Wednesday, the president of the Community of Madrid admitted that she was “not proud of anything.”
Among the main controversies is the issue of housing. In the 710 socio-health centers of the Community of Madrid, 6,000 people died from Covid-19 or symptoms compatible with the disease. Furthermore, the criterion adopted by the community to decide which of the elderly residents of the homes should be hospitalized also generated several criticisms. The protocol stipulated that the elderly with advanced dementia, the highly dependent, the terminally ill and the terminally ill cancer patients would be excluded from the treatments.
Nor has Madrid guaranteed sufficient personal protective equipment for healthcare professionals and it was the last community, together with the Canary Islands, to make the use of a mask mandatory in the street.
Adoption of “more drastic” measures
The Community of Madrid has already announced measures “More drastic” to stop the advance of the pandemic, such as “selective confinement” in areas of the city with the highest incidence of the pandemic. The measures, which include restrictions on mobility, were announced by the Regional Deputy Minister of Health, Antonio Zapatero, during a press conference on Wednesday and led to a crisis in the regional government.
Zapatero made the announcement of measures that supposedly were not approved by the Madrid executive, and for this he was the target of harsh criticism. The Deputy Minister of Health is justified, in turn, stating that, the day before, he communicated by WhatsApp to Días Ayuso that he would make public one of the plans that the Ministry of Health team had commented on.
“The president always supports any measure that seeks to protect the health of the citizens of Madrid, as she has reiterated on several occasions. Therefore, I understand that this measure that we are proposing has your full support, as it always has been, ”Zapatero continued to justify.
Dias Ayuso made no comment in response to the misunderstanding, but the Ministry of Health was quick to clarify that the plan announced by Zapatero was his, supported by President Enrique Ruiz-Escudero. The councilor knew him and it is an option of the municipality, not only of Zapatero ”, explained the Ministry. This Thursday, the Minister of Health transmitted “a message of calm.” In a video sent to the Spanish media, Ruiz-Escudero affirmed that the Community of Madrid is facing “a situation of sustained growth” and confirmed that the Ministry of Health is “working on a proposal to restrict mobility and reduce activity in the areas where there is a greater transmission of the virus ”.
The Spanish Government said it was “concerned, attentive and willing to support the Government of Madrid in the measures it wants to take.”
The first vice president of the Spanish Government, Carmen Calvo, said that she is waiting for the approval of these measures by the regional executive, which should be detailed next weekend. “We will see if these measures are sufficient to help and protect them,” said Carmen Calvo.
Regarding the possibility of re-decreeing the state of emergency, Calvo said that they will not “step on skills” and recalled the possibility, raised by Pedro Sánchez in August, that the communities themselves must request support. “The Government of Spain must be prepared for whatever the Madrid executive decides”he added.
The first vice president of the Government agreed with the words of the Minister of Health, who stressed that “the important thing is to control the situation in Madrid, as has already been done in other autonomous communities.”
