President Alberto Fernández will wait until Friday at noon to announce how the quarantine continues, after the record of infections and deaths recorded yesterday. Fernández met for two hours in Olivos with the Buenosairean governor Axel Kicillof and the head of Buenos Aires government Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who approached him with their proposals for flexibilization and return to a phase 3. But now what the infectologists will tell him, to who will receive this afternoon. In principle, the idea of flexibility remains firm. Both in Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires management responded that the number of infections remained within expectations and that it is not the only indicator to be addressed.
Kicillof and Rodríguez Larreta arrived with their main officials. The governor and head of government had held a first meeting on Monday, which was then followed by a meeting of his cabinet chiefs and ministers on Tuesday, with the aim of fine-tuning details about the opening. After some public declarations in which it seemed that each jurisdiction was going to take different paths, these meetings served to maintain the unity of criteria in the AMBA, for several weeks the epicenter of the pandemic in the country. The national government insisted that the unit not break with the idea that people are more certain to see the three efforts decide by mutual agreement.
Fernández received them after 7:00 pm together with the Chief of Staff, Santiago Cafiero, the Minister of Health, Ginés González García, and the Secretaries of Legal and Technical, Vilma Ibarra, and Julio Vitobello. Kicillof was accompanied by his Chief of Staff, Carlos Bianco, and Minister Daniel Gollán while Rodríguez Larreta arrived with Diego Santilli, Felipe Miguel and Fernán Quirós. By that time they already knew the numbers of infections, which were supposed to be lower, as a result of the tightening of the quarantine decided two weeks ago. This was how the specialists had marked it, explaining that the infections of the day are those that occurred between 10 and 14 days ago. But the opposite happened, yesterday’s numbers jumped to 4,250 cases – 2,734 in the Province and 1,220 in the Capital – and 82 deaths. This afternoon, as he usually does every time he decides on a new extension, the President will receive, along with Ginés González García, the infectious diseases committee that advises him to analyze the situation and decide what decision to take.
“They are still within expectations,” commented the government regarding the cases. Both the officials of Kicillof and Rodríguez Larreta explained that it was not the only number that should be observed, because it is also necessary to take into account the occupation of beds – which yesterday reached 63.7 percent – and the contagion ratio, which measures the rate of duplication of cases. That is what will also be seen in detail in today’s meeting.
Kicillof and Rodríguez Larreta have ready the protocols for the reopening of the activities that had become more flexible during phase 3. Mainly industries in the Province and shops in the Capital. Likewise, in Buenos Aires territory they also plan to reopen local stores and go towards a progressive opening, something that many mayors have been demanding, who in turn receive daily complaints from merchants. There will also be short recreational outings for children, who can also continue to accompany their parents for shopping.
In this new scheme, the idea of the government is to give the mayors greater autonomy so that they resolve the flexibilities in the way they think is most convenient. The intention is to allow the return of all possible activities with sanitary protocol, maintaining the veto regarding what represents conglomeration of people in closed places: cinemas, theaters, restaurants, bars, party rooms and others.
In the City for days they have been insisting on the possibility of reopening some 70 thousand local businesses, plus another 10 thousand that are distributed along the main avenues. There are more than 100 activity protocols that have already passed the filter of the health authorities and are now waiting for the moment to get going. Outdoor physical activities will also return, the famous “runners” in the parks and squares. On the other hand, the boys will be able to go out every day of the winter holidays that start on Monday to make recreational outings with their parents, at a certain time to be set between mid-morning and afternoon.
There are more complicated items that still have to wait a few days, as is the case with hairdressing salons. The ban on social gatherings will also continue, with a first alert on Friend’s Day, which is just celebrated on Monday.
There was never confirmation, but it was assumed that the advancement of the meeting between Fernández, Kicillof and Rodríguez Larreta was due to the desire to anticipate the announcement for today and not wait until the last day, given the agreement that existed regarding what should be done. But the record of cases led to wait a bit and listen again to the opinion of specialists. Maybe the number of infections today will help and decrease a little.
–
