Start reopening of businesses in the country

Published Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Start reopening of businesses
in the country

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

On Monday President Carlos Alvarado announced a plan for the next three months as part of the measures for the gradual reactivation of economic activity in the country.

According to Alvarado, the reactivation of businesses will continue as long as the evolution of the covid-19 in the country maintains the same controlled lower cases of infected people per day.

"Costa Rica has made an effort to live during the measures imposed by the Ministry of Health and the results achieved allow us to project some of the actions that we will be implementing in the following months," Alvarado said.

The people must remain vigilant, it is necessary to continue watching hygiene and health rules to avoid a negative effect on the number of cases active with covid-19.

The business reopening schedule will have four phases that will be implemented from May 16 to August 2.

The first phase, from May 16 to 31, is the reopening of the following:

• National parks with 50% of their usual capacity.

• Beaches during the weekdays from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m.

• Certain sports activities, as long as there is no physical contact, no spectators, they can be held.

• As for the ban on driving, it will start from 10 pm from Monday to Friday.

• Businesses or shops may serve customers, provided they maintain 50% of their capacity.

• In the case of hotels and motels, they will be able to serve guests in a maximum of 20 rooms and keep 50% or less of their capacity in the facilities.

The second phase, from June 1 to 20, will allow:

• The opening of other national parks with 50% of its capacity.

• Access to museums.

• The reopening of restaurants with at least 50% of their customer capacity during the weekends.

• The reopening of hotels with more than 20 rooms is enabled, maintaining 50% of their capacity.

• Public parks at 50% of their capacity.

The third phase, from June 21 to July 11, will allow:

• Stores to maintain 50% or less of their customer capacity during weekends.

• Reopening of places of religious worship, as long as they are applying a minimum distance of 1.8 meters between each person and with a maximum of 75 people.

• Cinemas and theaters to continue with their commercial activities maintaining 50% of their public capacity during the weekend. Tickets may not be sold in the same facilities, so the public must purchase them in advance. Cinema, theater and museum activities can only accept pre-purchased tickets.

• Reopening of bars during the week, keeping the rule of 50% of their customer capacity.

• Reopening of places of sports practices during the week, maintaining the rule of 50% of its capacity of clients and offering activities without physical contact.

The fourth phase, from July 12 to August 2, will allow.

• A capacity expansion to 100 people in places of religious worship, always respecting the minimum distance of 1.8 meters between each person.

• Reopening of the school year for schools, colleges, academies and universities, among others. However, the opening of each institution will be done progressively according to the conditions of each place. Also, classes should be continued at a distance, when either a teacher, student or employee express some type of health problem. In this case, the opening of each institution must be coordinated with the Ministry of Education.

• The entry of vacationers to the beaches during the weekdays.

According to Daniel Salas, minister of Health, during these phases, the activities of mass gatherings such as public shows, event rooms, casinos, community fairs, amusement parks, discotheques and dance halls continue to be banned.

Any company that does not comply with the aforementioned rules will have their Health License for Operation suspended for one month, said the government. If the company breaks rules more than one time, their License of Operation will be suspended indefinitely.

For more information on how to apply the rules for each company, or a specific business, the ministry can be reached at the line (506) 2223-0333.

Government will continue to monitor the evolution of covid-19 in the country during these stages for further development and authorization to reopen other types of businesses.

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Could the reopening of business generate more covid-19 cases in the country? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com