Many people decided to travel to the Atlantic coast to start 2021. This is something that many families or groups of friends usually do every year at this time, but this year the coronavirus pandemic caused the stay in some coastal cities to be different. This is the case of Pinamar, where the municipality mounted a strong police operation in different areas of access to the beaches in order to prevent people from entering and avoid crowds.
During the early hours of the morning of January 1, photos were disseminated on social networks where large groups of uniformed men are observed standing on the entrances to the different spas. Every year celebrations and dances are organized in the sand but this season it is prohibited.
“Incredible the police cordon in Pinamar. They are all insane, this is crazy. Let the people live ”, tweeted Juanna Redolfi, one of those who commissioned to viralize the images. While Leandro MV added: “It is not the Gaza Strip, it is Pinamar in Argentina.”
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing”, “it’s outrageous”, “Pinamar looks like North Korea”. The discomfort of the users was felt strongly in the networks when they did not understand such deployment of the security forces to guard the beach.
The mayor had already warned last week and other neighboring cities joined the measure, as was the case of Villa Gesell. “It is a police operation to avoid crowds!”, Explained last night the mayor of Pinamar, Martín Yeza before the questioning and the questions he received on social networks.
Pinamar is one of the busiest tourist centers in the summer and since the beginning of the arrival of tourists, on December 1, it established a strict sanitary protocol. It includes controls on the income to the city to verify that all those who arrive have the national circulation certificate and the municipal permit. For this, an Affidavit was made available that can be downloaded from the web.
“We all know that this is a totally atypical season and, in that sense, we have to generate a different work dynamic. We are starting the season now and ending on April 4 has to do with the idea of decongesting tourist places a bit. We will also order other important changes that have to do with maintaining the protocols in the shops, events that will be transformed, nightlife, cultural events, it will be a different season but we are prepared ”, explained Alberto Lamarque, Secretary of Government of this Buenos Aires party.
The strictness in the controls of which the local authorities spoke weeks ago was reflected in the operation mounted during the dawn of January 1. Many spas in Pinamar were allowed to open their doors for dinners that respected the protocols previously approved by the municipality. However, the organization of dances was prohibited as it happened in previous years. The objective is that the social, preventive and mandatory distancing established by the national government is respected.
Last week Villa Gesell announced a similar measure and it was announced by the mayor of that Buenos Aires spa town, Gustavo Barrera. Through a statement he explained that “in order to avoid parties and disturbances in the area and as a result of the non-opening of dance venues for this 2020/21 season, in compliance with the health measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entry to the coast ”.
In that sense, by means of a decree it established “the prohibition of entry and stay in the entire beach sector from 10 pm to 6 am to protect entry into the area in the early morning hours.”
These measures take place in a context of a marked rise in daily coronavirus infections and that at this time concern the national government and that of the province of Buenos Aires.
On Thursday, President Alberto Fernández announced that he will adopt measures in case the trend continues after the end of the year holidays. “If we see that the situation does not ease and the relaxation continues, we are going to see how the security forces begin to act in the street to dispel people and prevent crowds, “he said.
As a result of concern about the acceleration of the contagion curve, the president met on Wednesday with Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Axel Kicillof. As he assured, he wanted to know first-hand what is happening in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and in the province of Buenos Aires, where in the last week of December the number of infections returned to high levels.
“We have the problem of the Coast with tourism, Mar del Plata is not having a good time; We are going to let the end of the year go by and we are going to look closely at how we solve this, ”said the President.
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Going to the beach in a pandemic: what can be done in Mar del Plata and how the spas will work
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