Venezuelans wearing face masks walking in a boulevard at Caracas. File photo.
In his address this Wednesday, July 14, to the Presidential Commission for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19, President Nicolás Maduro proposed that the possibility of lifting the 7+7 reopening scheme— which alternates one week of quarantine with another of reopening—be evaluated.
“With the care that the entire population is taking, we have once again reached 22 active cases per 100,000 inhabitants,” said Maduro. “I have been thinking about making all the restriction measures almost totally flexible, and trusting in the care of the family and the people, and opening the floodgates.
“I want the Presidential Commission to study it, think about it,” he reflected. “We could go to a phase of controlled but open flexibility, lift the 7+7, and let people move freely, to trade and to work.”
Avoiding an increase in cases “depends on each and everyone,” noted Maduro. “If we all take care of ourselves, if we avoid parties, madness, if we avoid indiscipline and irresponsibility; if we all continue, as we are aware, to respect bio-safety measures, we could take that step.”
Finally, the Head of State suggested that he would make an announcement in this regard in his address of Monday.
Criticism strengthens us
President Maduro remarked on the possibility of lifting 7+7 after confirming that he liked to hear criticism “no matter how ruthless” it may be. The comments were made in allusion to statements that several deputies of the National Assembly (AN) made last Monday in the Miraflores Palace, during a meeting of the Executive with the AN’s Special Commission for Dialogue, Peace and National Reconciliation.
The opposition deputy José Gregorio Correa denounced the emplacement of police checkpoints in the quarantine week, which prevent the effective passage of food and other products from one area to another. As a result the president ordered the immediate elimination of these checkpoints, and assured this Wednesday that his order had been carried out because he had verified it in person.
Featured image: Venezuelans wearing face masks walking in a boulevard at Caracas. File photo.
(RedRadioVE) by Lucía Eugenia Córdova
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
