translated from Spanish: Lower House Health Commission to analyze curfew effectiveness to tackle pandemic

The chairman of the Health Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and Deputies, MP Miguel Crispi (RD), announced that they will discuss at the session on Tuesday, March 2, the effectiveness of curfew in controlling coronavirus contagion. March will be one year since President Sebastián Piñera decreased the constitutional state of emergency of pandemic catastrophe, which includes, among other measures, curfew.
Experts will be invited to explain whether curfew is still a key measure to control the spread of the virus. This, taking into account that at the same time the Government decided to open the casinos, gyms, cinemas and malls in phases 2 and 3 of the Step-by-Step Plan.
Among those invited to the Commission are a representative of the Medical College; the member of the Advisory Council, Ximena Aguilera; and Undersecretary Katherine Martorell.
Miguel Crispi noted that “We will serve a year with curfew and there are legitimate doubts about the effectiveness of the measure to mitigate contagions. It is not understood that on the one hand the opening of casinos, gymnasiums and cinemas is allowed, while on the other the other the movement is restricted from 23:00 hours, throughout the national territory, independent of the phase that each commune is. That is why I decided to dedicate a session of the Committee on Health, to discuss the relevance of maintaining the measure and clarifying the legitimate doubts that citizens have,” he said.
“We want the experts we will invite, from the Advisory Council, the Medical College and the Government, to explain whether this measure is still warranted. The government must deliver the evidence to understand why we have been full-time with a curfew for a full year, while at the same time making business more flexible. Curfew is an exceptional measure and cannot be transformed into normality,” the parliamentarian concluded.
Finally, the session also aims to discuss whether the health alertness and all the powers it entails are sufficient to continue to deal with the epidemic.

Original source in Spanish