Decree N°408/2020 – Extension of mandatory and preventive social insulation. Provincial authorizations for new exceptions.
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Public Law Department Report | Decree N°408/2020 – Extension of mandatory and preventive social insulation. Provincial authorizations for new exceptions
Dear Sir or Madam,
Within the state of sanitary emergency currently in force, the President issued the Necessity and Urgency Decree No. 408/2020 –published on April 26, 2020- by means of which the extension of the mandatory and preventive social insulation until May 10, 2020, was set forth, along with a series of measures for focalized quarantine to be stated in accordance to local epidemiology.
Said Decree states Governors are entitled to determine new exceptions to the mandatory and preventive social insulation and the circulation prohibition, within certain locations or departments of their jurisdiction. Said exceptions might be authorized only if the following requirements are fulfilled: (i) the timing for duplicating COVID-19 cases is non less than 15 days, (ii) the health system is capable of responding to the potential sanitary demand, (iii) the existence of a positive evaluation of local authorities regarding the social and sanitary risk related to the population density of the specific area, (iv) the percentage of people allowed to circulate does not exceed 50 % of the total population of the location or department, and (v) the department or location is not included within those considered as “with local or conglomerate transmission”. If any of these is not fulfilled, an exception is not to be allowed and said prohibition includes adjacent territories. For authorized exceptions, a protocol is to be previously developed following both national and local recommendations and is to be communicated to the National Ministry of Health.
No exception is to be allowed related to the following services or activities: (i) in-person classes in all of the levels and in all of the modalities, (ii) public and private events that require the gathering of people, (iii) commercial centers, cinema, theaters, cultural centers, libraries, museums, restaurants, bars, gyms, clubs, and any other activity requiring the gathering of people, (iv) public interurban, inter-jurisdictional and international passenger transport, (v) touristic activities, the opening of parks or similar.
Also, the Decree states exceptions are to be jointly monitored between National and provincial authorities, being provincial authorities obliged to issue a weekly report to be defined as “Epidemiology and Sanitary Report COVID-19”. Indeed, the Chief Cabinet might overrule the provincial exception based on recommendations issued by the National Ministry of Health.
The Decree also sets forth that there will be no new exceptions in urban conglomerates of more than 500,000 inhabitants, and neither will it be on the Metropolitan Area of the Province of Buenos Aires, to be defined in accordance with the localities identified on said Decree. The Chief Cabinet is authorized to include any urban conglomerate, with independence on the number of citizens, based on epidemiology criteria and with the previous intervention of national sanitary authorities.
Finally, the Decree sets forth the possibility of recreation walks, within 500 meters from their residence, with a duration of not more than 60 minutes and within certain parameters. As for this possibility, local authorities must dictate the specific regulations and are allowed to suspend them if local epidemiology indicates it.
Please do not hesitate in coming back to us should you have any queries.
Kind regards,
Juan Antonio Stupenengo
Florencia Cairella