Regional government officials have rejected central government’s decision to leave some areas of the Valencian Community in Phase 0 while many other areas of the district proceed to Phase 1 of the de escalation plan this week.
The areas progressing to Phase 1, organised by Health Department rather than geographical boundary, include Torrevieja and Orihuela but local politicians are furious that areas such as Alicante and Elche are being left behind.
Six health departments in the province have been given the green light to progress to Phase 1: Alcoy, Dénia, Marina Baixa, Elda, Orihuela and Torrevieja. The Ministry for Health has ordered that many areas remain in Phase 0, including Alicante, Castellón and Valencia.
Despite good epidemiological figures by both of its health departments, Elche remains in Phase 0 along with Alicante city. Local politicians have lodged appeals to the central government and will have to wait until later this week to find out if officials relent and allow more areas to progress to Phase 1.
The decision, when it was announced at the weekend, caused outrage in the Valencian region. President of the Generalitat Valenciana Ximo Puig expressed his indignation at the decision saying on Twitter, “We do not share this decision. We have justified with technical criteria the conditions so that the entire Valencian Community had to go to Phase 1 to protect Valencian society. We ask that our plan be studied again to review the decision as soon as possible.”
Valencia’s Minister for Health also made her disagreement known through a statement issued over the weekend. Ana Barceló said, “We do not agree with it because we have met all the criteria and demands that the ministry itself had asked of us.” Barceló revealed that the Valencian Community, at the behest of central government, submitted its proposal for the region which included figures on criteria such as the number of hospital beds available, the number of ICU places available, the capacity for response and follow-up in Primary Care, the capacity of laboratories to carry out the PCR tests and more.
Barceló also criticised that other communities have been allowed to pass entirely to Phase 1 with worse indicators than the Valencian region. According to an index of cases recorded in the two weeks before the de-escalation Phase 1 list was confirmed, the Valencian Community was in the top six in Spain in terms of infections per 100,000 inhabitants at an average of 13.59 cases. Barceló revealed that some regions with between 46 and 63 cases per 100,000 residents have been allowed to pass entirely to Phase 1.
Mayor of Alicante, Luis Barcala, agreed to immediately halt measures that had been in place ready for the city to move to Phase 1 this week. Barcala revealed that he will formally request from the Ministry of Health “appropriate explanations that make us understand why we have not gone to Phase 1.”
The Mayor of Elche, Carlos Gonzáles, was more cautious about directly criticising the decision, saying, “This is a process in which you have to be open to what is proposed by the health authority and you have to know the reason why and, from there, go forward.”