ARCHIVED - Murcia president warns against over-relaxation of pandemic measures at Easter

Recent improvement must not be allowed to mask the need to vaccinate and avoid a fourth wave, warns Fernando López Miras

The last few weeks have brought a change in mood to the Region of Murcia as many of the restrictions on movement and socializing have been partially lifted due to the fall in coronavirus infection rates, but Fernando López Miras, the president of the regional government, continues to emphasize that the pandemic is far from over and that it would be a mistake to hope for “normal” Easter holidays this year.

Speaking in an interview, Sr López Miras affirmed that “we are still in the middle of the pandemic” and that as a result “Semana Santa will have to be different”, reiterating the need for caution and stressing that decisions regarding the restrictions or lack of restrictions at Easter will be made by public health experts, epidemiologists and the regional health authorities.

Many people have welcomed the re-opening of outdoor bar and restaurant terraces over the last couple of weeks, and as of Wednesday limited numbers of clients are allowed to dine indoors in many areas of Murcia, but at the same time the number of coronavirus patients in hospital is similar to the levels of the second wave of contagion last autumn. In this context, the regional president is concerned that relaxing the restrictions too quickly could lead to more frustration in the event of a fourth wave of contagion necessitating the re-introduction of restrictive measures.

Sr López Miras also points out that not enough people have received Covid vaccines to provide any significant overall level of protection against the pandemic, and reports that his government is “worried” about the level of de-escalation in anti-Covid measures in other parts of the country. It is still not certain whether the perimetral closure of the Region of Murcia will remain in force at Easter or whether visitors will be welcome, but the general tone of the president’s comments indicated a great reluctance to be hurried into relaxing restrictions.

Last week the regional health minister for Murcia expressed his own personal reluctance to re-open regional borders for the Easter week.

He also stressed that health and medical professionals are “exhausted” after a year of the pandemic, and that the increased contagiousness of new variants of Covid make it even more necessary to take preventative measures against a possible fourth wave.

For a combination of all these reasons, particularly the need to immunize a far greater proportion of the population, Sr López Miras believes that a suggestion to “delay” Easter by three weeks would not solve the problem (made by Madrid researchers), and that to implement such a strategy, ostensibly to allow more vaccines to be administered, would be to “play to the gallery” rather than to address the crux of the matter.

The topic is being debated by the heads of all the regional health authorities and the national Ministry of Health on Wednesday.