Canary Islands to Serve as Spain’s Testing Ground for Coronavirus De-Escalation Measures

MORE relaxed measures during quarantine, such as taking children out for a walk or going out to do exercise, will be tested first in the Canary Islands.

According to a Ministry of Health document accessed by OKDIARIO, the government plans to begin the de-escalation of quarantine measures in the Canary Island territories. This document proposes to convert the Canary archipelago into a pilot test whose results will affect the whole of Spain.

Moncloa is currently debating several scenarios, all of which will have to pass in Congress after requesting another extension to the State of Alarm next week. The basic outline of this transition strategy committee involves taking decisions, both wisely and gradually, based on data and the opinion of experts.

According to this plan, the start of the de-escalation period will begin in the Canary Islands in the upcoming weeks. This involves minors being allowed to go for a walk if accompanied by an adult and will allow individuals to go outdoors to exercise. However, they will all have to be wearing protective masks.

Depending on these results, the Council of Ministers would decide after April 26 if these measures should be extended to the rest of the nation. At this moment in time there is no concrete decision that can be considered as this pandemic is constantly changing and in flux, but Pedro Sanchez’s government assures they are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

The goal is to reduce the number of basic contagions from infected individuals to below one for several weeks. However, elderly people and the at-risk population, will not be able to start recovering normalcy until at least well into the summer.

The intention is to protect the most vulnerable groups from a second wave of infection which would place the country once again in a critical health crisis.