Restaurants allowed to reopen in San Luis R.C. – with limits

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. – Restaurants and other businesses deemed nonessential can reopen here at reduced capacity.

The Municipal Health Council approved the reopenings Wednesday after the state of Sonora dropped one notch, from maximum to high risk, on the scale used by Mexico’s Health Ministry to measure the danger of COVID-19 risk.

The decision allows not only restaurants but hotels, beauty salons, barber shops, gymnasiums, massage parlors, parks and other public facilities to operate at 50% capacity.

“Nonessential businesses will reopen, but under (restrictions) that will allow for safe operation,” Santos Gonzalez, the city’s mayor, said following the council’s session. “It is for that reason that we ask businesses to observe all safety measures and protocols, and that customers and consumers respect all health measures, so that we avoid returning to red numbers.”

Last week, Sonora and 13 other Mexican states were lowered from red to orange on the scale that uses a color code to symbolize the severity of the pandemic in a locale or region. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and hospitalized patients in a city or state determine the color assigned to it.

In states and cities that fall within the red, only essential businesses and services such as grocery stores, medical offices and banks are allowed to operate. Those in the orange can decide whether to reopen their economies, albeit with restrictions.

The Municipal Health Council, which comprises the mayor and representatives of health agencies and the business community, also allowed movie theaters, museums and cultural centers to reopen, although at 25% capacity.

As part of restrictions imposed by the council, businesses must enforce social distancing and use of masks among customers and employees, place sanitizing mats at their entrances and take the temperatures of customers arriving on the premises.

The council decided to keep bars closed in the city until the state drops one more notch on the scale, to yellow, and to keep casinos closed until Sonora falls to green, signifying the lowest risk level.

The council also is allowing the public to return to the beaches at El Golfo de Santa Clara, although in reduced crowd sizes that will be determined by state health officials.