Four steps towards the new normal

Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez yesterday announced a four-stage plan for leaving the lockdown. The plan should last from six to eight weeks. Sánchez said the aim of the plan was to “to get Spain going again while protecting the health and lives of Spaniards and maintaining our health system.”

The four stages will result in the establishment of a “new normality”, and it is only when this objective has been reached that inter-region travel will be considered.

Each phase of the plan will last at least two weeks, and the next phase will only be permitted when certain conditions relating to the amount of infections and the availability of hospital beds have been met. In a best case scenario, the phases will be completed by the end of June.

Phase 0: Preparatory

This phase has already started. Children have been allowed to leave the home from last Sunday, and from next Monday adults will be allowed to carry out individual exercise such as running or cycling. Over 65’s will also be permitted to go out for walks. The government will shortly establish different time-slots for these activities, to keep different groups of the population separate and protect the most vulnerable elderly.

Phase 1: Initial

Small businesses will be permitted to open under strict safety measures , but shopping centres will remain closed.
Special shopping times will be established for the over-65s.
Movement within provinces will be permitted.
Social activities permitted (to be defined)
Cafés and restaurants allowed to open exterior terraces at 30% of capacity.
Hotels and tourist apartments may reopen, but communal areas will remain closed.
Churches and other places of worship permitted to open at 30% of normal capacity.
Fishing and hunting allowed.

Phase 2: Intermediate

Table service inside restaurants at 30% of normal capacity.
Educational centres will be opened for the under-6s, and support classes and university preparation courses permitted.
Visits to cultural centers permitted at a third of their usual capacity.
Indoor cultural events for fewer than 50 people permitted, with social distancing measures.
Outdoor cultural events for fewer than 400 people permitted, with social distancing measures.
Cinemas and theaters reopen at 30% capacity

Phase 3: Advanced

General mobility will be made more flexible.
The 30% capacity limits above will be increased to 50%.
Beaches and parks will reopen.

Sánchez pointed out that the plan was highly adaptable to circumstances, which are likely to vary wildly throughout Spain. “This adaptability is necessary because we don’t know what we are facing,” he admitted. “Science still doesn’t know a lot of things about this virus. As such, we are facing something that we don’t know, and that is why we have to be cautious.”

The Canary Islands of La Graciosa, La Gomera and El Hierro, and the Balearic island of Formentera, none of which have active cases of COVID 19 , will be permitted to go to the initial phase on 4^th May, with the rest of the islands and the country following on the 11^th.