Phase one rules based on healthcare areas
Regional government shuns provincial model in favour of health departments
THE REGIONAL and national governments pulled a rabbit out of the hat on Saturday with the announcement that phase one of the exit plan would operate with healthcare areas as the ‘zone of reference’ in the Valencia region.
Originally Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s exit plan had stated that all the stages would be based on provinces.
However, the PM decided to allow changes suggested last week by regional governments.
Valencia had told Sr Sánchez that they preferred to administer the phases via individual healthcare departments rather than on a provincial basis, even though there are 24 of these in the region.
However, this strategy appeared to have backfired as only 10 out of 24 healthcare areas were allowed to move into phase one on Monday (May 11).
In Alicante province these are Torrevieja, Orihuela, Marina Baixa (includes Benidorm and La Nucía), Dénia, Alcoy and Elda. The whole of Murcia region also passed the test, as did Gandía in Valencia province.
The Valencia government noted that they have asked for the remaining 14 healthcare areas to move into phase one this coming Monday (May 18).
Orihuela local police reminded that under phase one of the exit plan citizens can only travel to other towns and villages in their healthcare area.
This has led to some ‘anomalies’ as most of Orihuela municipality falls into two different healthcare zones, with the coast coming under Torrevieja and the city under Orihuela.
Deputy mayor José Aix said the situation has caused ‘confusion and inequality’ for residents of the municipality, as people living on the coast cannot visit the city.
Phase one
Phase one rules allow bar and restaurant terraces to open but with a limited number of customers (see page 6).
Hotels can open, as can shops and premises which measure less than 400 square metres – social gatherings with up to 10 people are allowed, and a limited number of people are able to attend funerals. Residents are able to book an ITV (MOT) for their vehicle, amongst other measures.
Murcia
The whole of the Murcia region – which is also a single province – has progressed to phase one of the government’s exit plan.
Regional president Fernando López Miras did not follow the path taken by Valencia and based his proposal on the provincial entity.
As a result, residents can travel anywhere in the province/region but Sr López Miras asked them to behave ‘responsibly’ and not to travel to the Mar Menor and coastal towns to spend the weekend in their holiday homes. He warned that if people behave irresponsibly, he will ask the national government to return the region to phase zero.
When will it end?
Minister for health Salvador Illa reminded that each phase is ‘in principle’ due to last two weeks.
Once the end of third phase has been reached then all the restrictions are set to come to an end.
PM Pedro Sánchez predicted that this would be ‘towards the end of June’.
However, it is now inevitable that different areas of the country will come out of the exit plan at different times.