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Although yesterday he said that it would have to be the PCP to do so, the General Health Directorate (DGS) released this Monday the technical opinion for the Festa do Avante !, organized by the PCP between September 4 and 6.
The organization of the Festa do Avante! It has the responsibility of applying various measures to reduce the risk of contagion and for public health due to the spread of the covid-19 disease during the event, says the DGS opinion released today.
The PCP leaders have already stated that the document is more demanding with their party than with other similar initiatives, particularly in terms of the capacity of the spaces.
In the document, Graça Freitas establishes the maximum capacity of 16,563 people simultaneously, half of the 33 thousand that the PCP wanted to have in the premises each day (a value that already represented a third of the usual occupation, of 100 thousand). Regarding the recommendations for occupation, access and movement of people, the opinion indicates that the rule of maximum occupancy of one person per eight square meters (m2) in open spaces and one person per 20 m2 in closed and guaranteed spaces must be respected. . Compliance with the physical distance of at least two meters between people in all areas of the venue, unless they are living together.
Another of the regulations requested by the DGS is the prohibition of drinking alcoholic beverages after 8 pm, except “during meals”.
In addition, all visitors over ten years of age must wear a mask and the spaces for shows “must be organized in public, with seats.”
Graça Freitas explained later that in principle they should be seats with chairs, but there is no opposition if they have to sit on the floor.
In these spaces, DGS also recommends that alcohol consumption is not allowed.
The opinion also determines several general recommendations, such as the organization to place the infection prevention and control measures to be followed during the event at the entrances and within the enclosure, to ensure adequate personal protective equipment for all workers and collaborators and the Existence of adequate equipment and / or facilities for the adoption of good hygiene practices, including the provision of dispensers of water, soap and alcohol-based antiseptic solution, and procedures for the periodic cleaning and disinfection of surfaces and objects.
At the press conference to update the data on the pandemic in Portugal, António Lacerda Sales, Secretary of State for Health, says that the DGS decided, in line with the PCP, to publicize the opinion as a matter of public interest, by the “social and even media impact”, eliminating “any type of discrimination, neither negative nor positive”.
Graça Freitas highlighted that the disclosure was combined with the organization of the Party.
In a note attached to the technical opinion, the DGS clarifies that “the DGS is in charge of issuing norms and guidelines, whether clinical or organizational, that is, in matters of public health, therefore, within the current epidemiological situation that we live , has been establishing specific guidelines or recommendations with a view to minimizing the risk of transmission by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that is, applicable to the realization of different types of events “.
Thus, “the DGS has issued, at the request of the organizers or promoters of said events, technical opinions containing the aforementioned guidelines and recommendations, which are sent, in the first line, to said entities, the respective communication being available if are available. so that they understand. “
However, “the DGS recognizes that such technical opinions may, in certain circumstances, generate general interest, mainly due to the social relevance of some of the aforementioned facts and the reinforced public health requirements that they demand, with inevitable repercussions on the expected behavior of the respective actors and participants “.
Without opposition to sending the document to journalists, the DGS adds that it did so only after an agreement with the organization.
Go ahead “carries different risks”
DGS recognizes that “The typology of the event entails different risks, not only due to the number of participants but also due to the characteristics, expected behavior, location of the event, duration, available activities, circulation circuits of people, epidemic situation, among other multiple criteria. ”. .
“In the current context of the epidemic in Portugal and, in particular, in AML, in a contingency situation, there is therefore a real risk that, during the event, infected people will circulate, with or without symptoms”, the opinion warns. .
For this reason, underlines, “to minimize the risk of infection by Sars-Cov-2 and the spread of the covid-19 disease”, the organization of the Festa do Avante! “It must reinforce, in the respective contingency plan, the measures issued by the DGS” in the opinion and that are applicable to the participants and workers / collaborators of the event.
In this sense, DGS considers that the Festa do Avante! “must contemplate compliance” with the recommendations contained in the opinion, some general and others applicable to the occupation, access and movement of people; the use of spaces for shows and exhibitions, sales, catering and the like and sanitary facilities, the Espaço Criança, the areas reserved for the organization, the health post and the procedures to be adopted in case of suspicion.
According to the opinion, “the prior inspection will be carried out, in accordance with the law, by the territorially competent health authority” and “the unpredictability of the epidemiological evolution of covid-19 implies a continuous assessment of risk and, according to the level of risk determined, the reevaluation of the implemented measures, as well as their compliance “.
The organization is “responsible for applying risk reduction measures and for complying with, promoting and ensuring compliance with current applicable legislation, as well as DGS standards, guidelines and recommendations, throughout the duration of the event, having consider the risk “. existing infection with Sars-Cov-2 and the risk to public health due to the spread of the covid-19 disease “.
In the opinion, DGS affirms that the typology of the Festa do Avante !, whose edition this year is scheduled to take place between Friday and Sunday, in the parish of Amora, municipality of Seixal, district of Setúbal, in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (AML), “entails different risks, not only due to the number of participants, but also due to the characteristics, expected behavior, location of the event, duration, available activities, circulation of people, epidemic situation, among other multiple criteria ”.
The party includes “innumerable” activities “mainly” carried out outdoors and in various areas of wide terrain and “the social component leads to a great mobility of the participants and proximity behaviors, being sharing tends to be inevitable, as well as participation of members of several generations, which implies the potential exposure of people belonging to the most vulnerable groups to the Sars-Cov-2 virus ”.
The PCP speaks of “a gigantic reactionary operation”
The PCP reacted, already this morning, to the opinion of the DGS, stating that the document is more demanding with this initiative than with others, in particular in terms of the capacity of the spaces. In a statement from the PCP press office, the Communists consider that they are being the target of “a gigantic reactionary operation” and said that even today they will unveil the “contingency plan” that the party itself presented for the Festa do Avante! .
According to the PCP, the opinion that the DGS announced on Sunday was delivered to the organization of the Festa do Avante! “contains, in various domains, levels of demand in relation to the party higher than those established for other initiatives, particularly in the capacity and capacity of the spaces and closed spaces, which contrast with the shows that are being carried out in the country, or with the book fairs currently taking place in Lisbon and Oporto, or with other initiatives “.
“In its content, the opinion reflects the recognition that in the Festa do Avante! Security conditions equal to or higher than those available in the frequency of the beaches are met, in the many shows and festivals that take place throughout the country or simply on trips to shopping centers, ”says the PCP.
The communists add that, “without prejudice to the registry of recommendations that will be accepted, depending on the concrete assessment of the contingency plan presented by the PCP (which will still be released today), the set of current regulations is met and respected.”
The PCP had already revealed in June some of the measures that were to be implemented at the Festa do Avante !, in the context of the pandemic.
Marcelo’s rumpet leads Costa to announce the revelation
After the controversy, the Prime Minister said today, in Coimbra, that the regulations of the General Directorate of Health will be known during the day in the usual “briefing”.
The statements by António Costa, made at the entrance to a PS conference, thus contradict the DGS which, on Sunday, announced the delivery of the final version of the technical opinion on the celebration of the Avante! Party, during the covid-19 pandemic. 19, send the disclosure of its content to the PCP.
“The rules are defined and are communicated today in the normal briefing. Obviously they will be published,” the government leader told reporters.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said the same, who revealed today that he was informed by the Government that the technical guidelines of the General Health Directorate (DGS) for Avante! It will be revealed in the early afternoon.
“The only information that I can pass on and that the government gave me this morning is that today, early in the afternoon, it would reveal its position on the matter. I don’t know anything else, ”the President of the Republic told reporters, on the sidelines of a visit to the roads of the Serra de Monchique, one of the 16 municipalities in the Faro district.
Asked about the fact that the DGS did not reveal the technical guidelines for the communist party in Quinta da Atalaia, Seixal in the longest, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied that “the only information” he had from the government is that “the DGS decided to publish The report “.
