Municipalities request reopening businesses

According to the mayor's plan, every company and the general public must follow the strict sanitation guidelines ordered
by the Ministry of Health - A.M. Costa Rica wire services photo

Published Thursday, August 6, 2020

Municipalities request
reopening businesses

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

On Wednesday, the Mayor's Offices of the cantons of Cuidad Colón- Mora, Santa Ana and Escazú, in San José Province, sent a proposal to the Government to reopen local businesses, which are closed by government orders due to the covid-19 crisis.

According to the mayor's plan, every company and the general public must follow the strict sanitation guidelines ordered by the Ministry of Health. This order includes the emergency alerts established by the National Emergency Commission, to prevent the spread of contagion.

The proposal was formulated by an interdisciplinary group of municipal technicians and advisers, the mayors said in their joint statement. "The goal is to support the commercial, business, tourism and agricultural sectors of the three cantons so that they can reopen and avoid further closings."

The police forces of the municipalities will be in charge of monitoring compliance with the guidelines ordered by the Ministry of Health, the mayors said.

In addition to the business reopening plan, the mayors requested for the government to extend the driving hours until 10 p.m. "Due to there are many companies that open in the afternoons and it is considered irrational that they have to close at 5 p.m.," they said.

Mayors expect to have a response from the government before Saturday, Aug. 8. The specific date marks the start date of the even more severe phase of business closings, restrictions and ban on driving.

Extensive information on the new restrictions that apply in the Closing Phase, from Monday, Aug. 10 to Friday, Aug. 21, can be reached at the article "More regulations in August due to pandemic, the government announces" first published on July 30.

According to the mayors, the reopening plan is supported by almost all businesses from the three cantons.

“We are asking to let us help in managing this emergency," said Arnoldo Barahona, Mayor of Escazú canton. "We are the ones who know the dynamics in our cantons and we are committed to giving full follow-up to the application of these sanitizing guidelines.”

Alexánder Solís, president of the National Emergency Commission, said that he will analyze the joint proposal of three mayors.

The government has imposed a series of restrictive measures to contain the accelerated spread and deaths due to covid-19.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Ministry of Health provided the following statistics on the status of the virus in the country:

• 580 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 13,375 active cases. The ages of patients infected range from a three-month-old baby to a 100-year-old person.

• 5,539 foreign-born people have been infected of the 20,470 cases since March, approximately 27% of the total cases.

• 388 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 288 patients are in recovery rooms and 100 are in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with delicate health conditions. Most of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

• 6,851 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, which is a 33.6% recovery rate.

• 64,934 people have been ruled out.

• 97,950 medical covid-19 tests have been made.

• 191 deaths of patients infected with covid-19 since March. Which is a 0.9% death rate. Of these 71 were women and 120 men. The ages range from 23 to 99-year-old person.

On July 30, authorities reported 30 foreign-born people had died from covid-19 since March, 22% of virus-related deaths. However, the ministry confirmed that they will not continue providing information on the number of foreign-born people who die from covid-19 in the country.

Readers can see the updated number of total patients in each district at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.

As of Tuesday night, the pandemic has killed 708,736 patients worldwide, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

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