While PSOE mayors consider that the confinement of large towns at weekends is a measure in line with the seriousness of the situation PP mayors say that they have doubts of its effectiveness
Mayors of the eight large municipalities in the province, that the Consell has told to close at weekends to stop the expansion of covid-19, have all said that they will comply with the measure, but they criticise the lack of data.
The mayor of Alicante, Luis Barcala, is very critical of the lack of official statistics in the city “despite repeatedly asking for them,” so he considers that it is impossible to assess whether the decision made by President Ximo Puig is correct or not.
He said that 29 December was the last time that the Alicante City Council received direct data from the Ministry, despite asking for regular updates.
Eduardo Dolón, mayor of Torrevieja, also considers that the taking of restrictive measures is positive and that they should have been adopted before, but he is not entirely convinced that the closure of municipal borders of those towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants, at weekends, will be effective.
The mayor of Orihuela, Emilio Bascuñana, spoke of the measure being “nonsense” for a region as complex as La Vega Baja, with 27 districts, coastal urbanisations and many small municipalities.
For this reason, he believes that it should have been refined, because having several dispersed and small populations distant from each other “is much more complex” than the situations in Alicante or Elche.
Here it will affect people who have to go shopping in small towns around Orihuela but he believes that this is not the time to question the details of the rule,
Toni Pérez, mayor of Benidorm, indicated that the recommendation will be fulfilled and appealed “to the solidarity and responsibility of the public so that we can get out of this situation as soon as possible.”
A similar call was made by the mayor of Elche, Carlos González, PSOE, who considers individual responsibility fundamental. The mayor believes that the current measures in force lead us to “a scenario of quasi confinement”, and that the closure of large municipalities at weekends “is a necessary measure in line with the seriousness of the situation.”
The mayor of Elda, Rubén Alfar, also PSOE, said that the new measures are part of the measures needed to address the seriousness of the situation in the Community, especially in the most important urban concentrations, and said that the perimeter confinement during the second wave, helped reduce the incidence of covid-19.
“We must take drastic measures and the Generalitat is adopting those that are within its powers,” he said, adding “it is not that the institutions do not assume their responsibilities. We will not be able to round the curve without the involvement of each and every one of us.”
