Date Published: 22/12/2020
ARCHIVED - Los Alcázares Mayor says residents can leave municipality to visit family members
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The residents of Los Alcázares will be able to enter and leave the municipality to see relatives
On Monday the regional health authority decided to maintain the perimeter confinement of the municipality throughout the Christmas period.
This effectively means that Los Alcázares is the only municipality of the region in which the perimeter confinement remains in place and residents are not allowed to leave the municipality or those living in other municipalities enter it other than for essential reasons.
The Mayor of Los Alcázares, Mario Pérez, was naturally disappointed about the decision and yesterday spoke with the regional health minister about the situation.
Last week when Torre Pacheco and Los Alcázares were the only two municipalities still confined, the two Mayors railed against the continued confinement of their municipalities, blaming the continued number of new cases on the agricultural sector and the failure of “day workers” to take precautionary measures.Case rates in their municipalities, they said, were not due to the lack of care being taken by their residents, but the failure of agricultural workers to maintain social distancing during breaks, and wear masks when working in close proximity to one another, spreading the virus between family members within their own communities.
The Mayor said following his meeting yesterday that the health authority was undertaking intensive testing in the agricultural sector to try and identify the sources of the new contagions and reduce them and had promised greater vigilance within the sector.
The Mayor said the perimeter closure of the municipality should be scrapped, saying it is “a measure with which it is impossible to comply” and control and is causing significant damage to local businesses.
Although some of his suggestions were rejected, the regional health authority did relent a little and has said that residents of the municipality will be able to leave the municipality in order to visit relatives and families will be permitted to visit their immediate family during the festive period.
Although relieved that some concessions had been achieved, the Mayor also expressed his frustration that the measure is unenforceable, " anybody can leave and enter Los Alcázares, saying that they are going to see a relative. Do we ask them to register the person they are going to see? It does not make sense," says the mayor “and cannot be enforced.”.