RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina is under full quarantine. Between midnight on Friday and midnight on March 31st, citizens must remain in their homes and limit their outings to the purchase of food and medicine. “This is an exceptional moment,” said President Alberto Fernández when he announced the decree paralyzing the country with the aim of “gaining time to prevent the virus from spreading” and slowing the pace of coronavirus infections.
When Fernández announced these extraordinary measures, there were 128 cases of coronavirus in Argentina, the vast majority in the province of Buenos Aires, and three people had died from the disease it causes, known as Covid-19. With a population of approximately 45 million, the number of people infected in the country is far lower than in neighboring Chile (342 cases) and Brazil (621 infected and seven dead).
The president said he relies on “the responsibility of Argentinians,” but he also recalled the collective irresponsibility of thousands of people who have moved to the coast and recreation areas (“there are people who don’t understand,” he said, lamenting), and noted that violating quarantine is an infringement of the Penal Code.
“We will be adamant,” he said, “and I asked the governors to act with the utmost severity. Before announcing the urgent decree regulating domestic confinement, Alberto Fernández met with all governors. A number of them had already adopted measures in previous days, such as the closure of provincial borders.
In a letter to all Argentinians, published after the speech, Alberto Fernández urged calm: “Nobody needs to panic. We need serenity. But everyone must assume the responsibility of fulfilling their obligation to isolate themselves”. He added: “We are in time, in Argentina, to prevent this epidemic from getting out of hand … it will be a struggle for months and we will be constantly assessing it”.
The Argentine quarantine provides for several exceptions. Supermarkets, small neighborhood businesses, pharmacies and gas stations will remain open. The health network will, of course, be operating at full capacity, as will the foodstuffs, pharmaceutical, oil, and journalistic sectors. Going out for shopping will be allowed, albeit quickly and in compliance with the hygiene and distance standards established by the World Health Organization.
The pandemic emergency leaves another urgent matter in the background, the economic one. Argentina has been experiencing a deep crisis since April 2018, and this situation was considered when establishing the quarantine period: in the coming weeks, there will be several holidays, including a tribute to the victims of the Falklands war, which will be brought forward from the usual date, April 2nd, to March 31st.
The plan is to paralyze activity as little as possible. “The economy will slow down and there will be additional difficulties,” the president conceded, assuring that in the next few days new measures will be adopted to mitigate the reduction in income of the self-employed and casual workers and the interruption of business in small-sized companies.
Police will patrol the streets to prevent quarantine violations, including permanent roadside checks.
As in Italy, Spain, and France, Argentinians will be forced to justify their presence in public areas. In a society that is not marked by a sense of discipline, minutes before the president’s speech there was an emotional moment: mimicking the Spanish popular initiative, in large cities, particularly in Buenos Aires, there was a long and loud applause directed at health workers.
However, in the coming days, such tributes may only be paid from windows and balconies.
Source: El País