Puerto Rico plans to reopen businesses, beaches slowly
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico will cautiously reopen beaches, restaurants, churches, hair salons and retail stores next week under strict new rules as the U.S. territory emerges from a two-month lockdown that stifled business activity on an island already beset with economic woes.
Gov. Wanda Vazquez announced Thursday that most businesses will reopen Tuesday, but a 7 p.m-to-5 a.m. curfew will remain in place until June 15. All people will be required to wear a mask when outside or inside a business, regardless of what they are doing.
“Puerto Rico is facing a new way of life,” she said. “It’s the right time. … We have flattened the curve.”
Many Puerto Ricans, including business owners, cheered the highly anticipated announcement.
Health experts, however, warned that the government has not tested enough people or conducted enough contact tracing and is not prepared for a possible spike in new infections. In addition, most of the reopenings contradict recommendations made by a government-appointed medical task force.
Puerto Rico’s Health Department has reported more than 2,900 confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 126 deaths, and dozens of additional infections still emerge every day. Officials do not regularly update statistics, including how many people have been tested or how many have recovered. Until recently, the island had a lower per capita testing rate than any U.S. state.
Vazquez said the restricted reopenings will protect people but also provide desperately needed economic relief on an island hit by hurricanes and earthquakes. The resumption of some normal activities also comes as the government restructures some of its more than $70 billion public debt load after declaring the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2015.
Restaurants will be allowed to operate at 25 percent capacity. Hair salons and barber shops will welcome clients by appointment only. People doing exercise, such as surfing, jogging, swimming or kayaking, will be allowed at the beach from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Retail stores will be allowed to reopen but under limited capacity, and people will be prohibited from trying on clothes, among other restrictions. Malls will open June 8.
“You will not be allowed to stroll the halls like before,” the governor said. “There will be lanes. … We have to be disciplined.”
Businesses that will remain closed for now include gyms and movie theaters, and all arriving flights are limited to Puerto Rico’s main international airport.
Economist Jose Caraballo said that the lockdown, one of the strictest in any U.S. jurisdiction, has caused estimated economic losses ranging from $6 billion to $12 billion. The unemployment rate has spiked to an estimated 40 percent on an island of 3.2 million people with a poverty rate of more than 40 percent, higher than any U.S. state.