JUST SO YOU KNOW: MADRID IS UNDER “RESTRICTIONS” (AGAIN)!

NewssliderSpain
23 Sep, 2020
Comments: 0
JUST SO YOU KNOW: MADRID IS UNDER “RESTRICTIONS” (AGAIN)!

Usera: the resurgence of the pandemic is at its worst in this district of  Madrid . The
selective confinement not only puts the spotlight on the old  issue
of what delimits  Usera from its  neighbors but also  the
north-south  rich-poor divide in Madrid.

by Rose Maramba

–
UPDATE, 2 October 2020: New and stricter confinement measures from the Ministry of Health for the city and region of Madrid.
Despite earlier SOS sent to the central government, the Madrid regional government is now threatening to take the Ministry to court for those measures.
Practically in the same breath, the regional government has announced that it will abide by the rules of the Ministry.
More info when all this confusion clears up. 
The Madrileños don’t deserve being used as a pawn in this political rigmarole.
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UPDATE, 8 October 2020: The High Court of Justice of Madrid overthrows the Ministry of Health’s stringent lockdown measures imposed on Madrid since 2 October which in the capital city alone affect nearly 5 million residents.
Reason: While the court admits to being “aware of the seriousness of the health crisis and the necessity to adopt immediate and effective measure  to protect the citizenry from the spread of the coronavirus,” the Ministry rules infringe the liberties and fundamental rights of the people.
It is said that unless the regional government of Madrid and the central government are able to come to a practicable agreement immediately, the latter will have no choice but to implement the State of Alarm that ruled the people’s lives across Spain from March to June this year and which proved effective in arresting the spread of the coronavirus.
Many shudder to think of undergoing again the harsh confinement of those darkest months of the pandemic.cuando se impuso el estado de alrma en madrid?

UPDATE, 10 October 2020: The central government has slapped a State of Alarm on Madrid in an absurd game of one-upmanship between the central and the Madrid regional governments. The Estado de Alarma as is currently in place has very little to do with the one imposed nationally at the height of the pandemic in that these days life seems to go on as usual save for parametric and social restrictions and, of course, the obligatory facde mask.
People, especially those in Madrid, lament that the politicians are too busy fighting each other when they should be fighting the coronavirus.

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RESTRICTIONS IN MADRID
as of 21 September 2020

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“Restrictions”:  it is the regional government of  Madrid’s euphemism for partial lockdown. Or “selective confinement” as the Deputy Counselor of Health and the COVID Plan (viceconsejero de Sanidad y Plan COVID de la Comunidad de Madrid), Antonio Zapatero, blurted out in a bout of candor.

Meaning that in the affected districts of the Madrid region (both the Comunidad de Madrid and the Capital City*)

No sangria! At least, not at the bar. Bar service in the restricted districts is prohibited. And restaurants are open until 10:00 PM only.

  • there can be no more than six people to a social gathering.
  • the capacity in commercial establishments, gyms, sports centers, gaming houses, schools and academies, and restaurants is reduced to 50%. Moreover, bars are out. Entirely.
  • the allowed capacity in places of worship is down to 30%.
  • mobility is restricted. People may only come and go from the restricted areas to carry out “essential activities” such as going to work, school and banks, caring for disabled persons and renewal of official documents.
  • shops – commercial establishments in general – will close at 10:00 PM. But not pharmacies and gas stations. Medical centers and vet clinics are also exempted from this restriction.
  • public parks and gardens are off limits every night from 10:00 PM.

Reason for the restrictions: to arrest the alarming surge of coranavirus contagion in the restricted areas. In these areas there are 1000 positives detected in the last 14 days out of every 100,000 people.

Pre-COVID Madrid — oh happy days! Today the region is the most infected in Europe.  25% of the corona-positives in the Madrid region are in the restricted districts. 

In fact, as a whole, Madrid (including the City of Madrid) is the region with the highest number of people infected with the coronavirus in all of Europe: 700 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Thirty per cent of all coronavirus infection in Spain are found in this region.

Restricted areas:   37 basic health areas (areas basicas de salud), 26 of which are located in six districts of the City of Madrid, the rest in municipalities of the Madrid region.
All are southerly except San Sebastian de los Reyes and Alcobendas.

CITY OF MADRID
Districts of

  • Puerta Bonita, Carabanchel: as in all the other areas of quasi confinement, mobility is restricted to essential errands.

     

    Carabanchel: the basic health areas of Puerta Bonita, Vista Alegre and Guayaba.

  • Usera: the health áreas of Almendrales, Las Calesas, Zofío, Orcasur and San Fermín.
  • Villaverde: San Andrés, San Cristóbal, El Espinillo and Los Rosales.
  • Villa de Vallecas health area.
  • Puente de Vallecas: Entrevías, Martínez de la Riva, San Diego, Numancia, Peña Prieta, Pozo del Tío Raimundo, Ángela Uriarte, Alcalá de Guadaira and Federica Montseny.
  • Ciudad Lineal: Doctor Cirajas, Ghandi, Daroca and La Elipa.

MADRID REGION
Districts of

  • Fuenlabrada: the basic health areas of Alicante, Cuzco and Francia.
  • Parla: San Blas and Isabel II.
  • San Sebastián de los Reyes: Reyes Católicos.
  •  Getafe: Las Margaritas and Sánchez Morate.
  • Alcobendas: Chopera and Miraflores and the entire towns of Humanes and Moraleja de Enmedio.

Tram in Parla. Persons’ mobility has been drastically reduced but in the restricted districts the frequency of public tranport has been augmented to insure passenger social distancing.

(A basic health area is an area in a district which contains at least one primary healthcare center with outpatient facility known as ambulatorio.)

Some 900,000 people, or roughly 17% of the whole population of the Madrid region, live in these areas of “selective confinement”. Yet they account for the 25% of the region’s detected coronavirus cases.

As the President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, has pointed out, “These areas have particularly high population density and connectivity.” Hence, the high incidence of COVID transmission.

Duration: The quasi lockdown went into effect at 00:00 hour on 21 September 2020. It will last 14 days at least.

Hefty fine for violating the restrictions.

When in doubt about the restrictions, the quickest way to clarify is to check with the local and national police deployed in the affected areas.
You might also try the Boletin Oficial de la Comunidad de Madrid.

Fine for violation of the restrictions ranges from €600 to €60,000, depending on the gravity of the offense and if the culprit is a persistent offender.

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*Note: The Madrid Region or Madrid Province is co-extensive with the Autonomous Community of Madrid. Their capital is Madrid, the city.

Images
Featured  image/Ergosfera, CC BY-SA2.0
Sangria/Ralph (Ravi) Kayden
Madrid 2019 just before COVID/Nicolas Vigier, PD
Puerta Bonita, Carabanchel/Santiago Lopez-Pastor, CC BY-ND2.0
Tram/IngolfBLN, CC BY-SA2.0
Euro bills/OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay