The Algarve socialist deputies, including Luís Graça, president of the PS/Algarve, asked the Government for exceptional measures to combat the pandemic, such as more tests and greater vaccination in municipalities with more than 120 and 240 cases per 100 inhabitants.
In a meeting this Monday with Jorge Botelho, Secretary of State responsible for coordinating Covid-19 in the Algarve, and the Regional Health Administration on the pandemic situation and the vaccination process in the region, parliamentarians Luís Graça, Jamila Madeira, Joaquina Matos, Ana Passos, and Francisco Oliveira recalled that the Algarve is a safe region, «where globally the Rt index is below 1».
The deputies consider "that the outbreaks verified in some municipalities", such as Portimão or Albufeira, "need a more prompt and incisive action by the health authorities in order to quickly contain the transmission of the virus by the community".
In this sense, they propose, as in Lisbon, “the creation of a special coordination commission in municipalities where there are more than 240 cases per 100 inhabitants”.
At the meeting, «it was also concluded that there is a discrepancy in the mathematical formula used to calculate the incidence ratio, since the population present in the Algarve, or registered in health centers, is higher than the population registered by the INE, given that the tourists, immigrant workers or foreign residents count if they are positive, but they do not count in terms of population», says the PS/Algarve.
For PS deputies, "this discrepancy between the numerator and the denominator distorts the results of the equation that is being used to calculate the evolution of the pandemic, as is particularly visible in municipalities such as Portimão, Aljezur or Vila Real de Santo António."
The parliamentarians even say that "it is not enough to look at the increase in the number of positive cases in the Excel sheet and, every fifteen days, decree that a certain municipality has to stop or even regress its economic activity."
«The Ministry of Health has, at all times and in accordance with the reality of each municipality, to prescribe, from the point of view of public health, the appropriate therapy for the pandemic situation. We cannot expect the numbers to decrease by themselves and, if they increase, to close the economy", argue the Algarve socialists, considering it desirable to increase testing in municipalities with more than 120 and 240 cases per 100 inhabitants in order to identify and quickly isolate any positive cases and close contacts.
The parliamentarians also alerted the responsible of the Government and the health authorities of the region to the necessity of accelerating the pace of the vaccination when it is verified that the virus circulates in a certain context or social space, as was done previously for the homes of the elderly.
In relation to this process, those responsible informed that this week will reach 100 vaccines administered in the region, when the second phase begins, with the opening of 11 new vaccination centers.
"These tasks, namely testing, cannot be solely dependent on the financial effort and will of each municipality, it is necessary that the central State also assume its role", consider the socialists elected by the Algarve, who also advocate a strengthening of surveillance , by the PSP and GNR, in compliance with the obligation to use a mask and the rules of distance and respiratory hygiene in public spaces.
In the case of companies that are forced to close again, as happened in Portimão, they want a business support program to be adopted, "because it is unsustainable to open a commercial establishment such as a restaurant or a cafe and have to close 15 days later" .
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