The stakes of opening up tourism is the biggest headache for the government, given the continuing grim picture on the country's epidemiological map, threatens to neutralise the strategic plan to relaunch the economy and social life.
Government and experts sound the alarm and watch with concern the partial lifting of restrictions measures (retail opening by appointment only and inter-municipal travel weekends). In fact, experts and the government are closely monitoring the progress of the pandemic with the numbers of deaths, intubated, and the degree of positivity. And so at the meeting that the infectious disease experts will have on Wednesday, April 7, they will look at what happens from here on out, taking into account the following factors:
- The dramatic situation in hospitals
- The numbers of intubated
- The mutations
The roadmap for the lifting of the measures
Infectious diseases experts will be asked to put on the table all the facts that will arise in the coming period, and will have to do with the liberalisation of retail and inter-city travel at the weekend. The formulation of indicators and mathematical models in conjunction with the data resulting from these activities will determine - to a large extent - how the country will move from 14 May, the date set as the official opening of tourism activity.
«The retail sector may close down again»
The only certainty is that the government does not want in any way to hurt tourism, which is expected to give our country a breathing space in a difficult and unprecedented year.
With this in mind, the government is determined to re-tighten the measures, which may translate into new retail closures or an extension of the wait for schools to open.
This can be seen both from the statements of the Secretary General of Commerce, Panagiotis Stamboulidis, who said that cannot rule out the closure of shops but also from the statements of the professor, Alkiviadis Vatopoulos, who said that «I can not speak with certainty about the opening of schools on Monday, April 12».
All scenarios for schools, catering and Easter are open
The outbreaks coronavirus, the picture in the hospitals and our adaptation will determine whether the next few days will see the retail trade in areas that are open by appointment only. Because the key is the retail trade to be open during Holy Week, so that shopkeepers can have traffic in their shops.
But what the government and shopkeepers is for shops to be physically present during the Easter period. This Friday, however, it will be decided - on the basis of epidemiological data - whether to open the retail trade in Thessaloniki, Achaia and Kozani, where the government - on the recommendation of the experts - decided to suspend the opening of the shopsν.
On Friday, also based on epidemiological data will decide whether the students of the third grade will eventually return to school from Monday, April 12, by doing a self-test. If students finally return to the desks on April 12, the goal is to open the following week, i.e. April 19, and open all high school classes, always with self-test.
Η focus, however, is the last to be opened since, as the Prime Minister said from Parliament, the opening is estimated to take place after Easter. Very premature is considered, however, and any discussion of moving out of the prefecture the Easter with government and experts leaving a loophole for vaccinated people and self-testing. Everything, however, will be decided on Friday, based on the epidemiological data of the coronavirus and the recommendations of infectious disease specialists to the government.
