Madrid ready to reopen bars as city council plan for a return to normality

Many people in Spain have been wondering when they will be able to return to bars since the coronavirus-enforced quarantine measures were put in place on March 15, but in Madrid, the City Council are already planning for a return to normality.

The final decision regarding de-escalation in Spain will be taken by the country's Ministry of Health, however Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida revealed what the city's plans are for when this begins to come into action.

Talking on the programme 'Espejo Publico' on Antenna 3, Martinez-Almeida said that there will be two processes: the first is focused on hotel businesses, and the second is on a return to work for facilities.

The Madrid City Council are working on a de-escalation plan that includes enlarging the terraces of bars, reducing seating capacity or installing protective measures, such as partitions inside establishments.

"These measures are intended to make it possible for the reopening of businesses to compensate and reactivate the economy as soon as possible by adopting the necessary measures of social distancing," Martinez-Almeida said.

"The District Boards are already ordering partitions to guarantee that when we can open, it will be done safely."

In fact, the Madrid Hotel Association have already asked the City Council for an extraordinary plan for terraces to help stop the closure of bars due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

The hoteliers have asked that all bars and restaurants have a terrace when the state of emergency is over.

It is estimated that this COVID-19 crisis will cause losses in the sector of 43 percent this year, with an economic impact of 2.645 billion euros less than the previous year.

In Madrid, there are 19,135 small and medium-sized hotel and catering businesses and 5,323 authorised terraces.

In view of the expansion of the terraces, Martinez-Almeida pointed out that studies are being carried out on how to do so without harming the residents' rest.

On the second measure, he plans to put temperature control cameras in the large workplaces of municipal officials to detect possible infections.

In addition, he is reflecting on teleworking in the coming months and the flexibility of municipal staff to come and go.

"We are in that pilot project that is going to be done in large work centres of the City Council," Martinez-Almeida said.

No major events until Autumn

The Madrid mayor points out that it is most likely that no major events can be held in the city before the autumn.

"We will have to take extreme precautions until there is a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus," he noted.

Martinez-Almeida recommended the use of bicycles because it is a mode of individual transport and is not susceptible to contagion.

He has informed that at Bicimad, 50 percent of the fleet will be used and users will have to wear gloves in this service, which will have a daily disinfection.