The recovery of the activity and the de-escalation phases in the companies until reaching the last stage. In which the process of normalisation of the situation generated by the health crisis caused by COVID-19 will be considered complete.
Within the plan of transition, articulated by the government last April 28, in four phases, phase 0 to phase 3, it will be a gradual and asymmetric process. It will be coordinated with the Autonomous Communities and will be adaptive, with the aim of maintaining public health protection as a reference and gradually recovering daily life and economic activity. Minimizing the risk posed by the epidemic to the health of the population and preventing the National Health System’s capacities from being overwhelmed.
From our Labour Consulting Dept., we proceed to summarize all the phases.
Recovery of the activity and the de-escalation phases
The de-escalation phases will be determined by the situation of each of the territories in four main areas:
- Strategic capacities, including enhanced health care, an effective and safe model of alert and epidemiological surveillance, a capacity for early detection and control of sources of contagion and a strengthening of collective protection measures.
- Mobility indicators.
- Economic indicators.
- And finally, social indicators.
Therefore, in the coming weeks it may be the case that certain Autonomous Communities or their Provinces are in different phases of “de-escalation”. Or even that, after having advanced in level, a situation may arise over time that forces them to go backwards in phase.
The Minister of Health will decide in which phase any territory of the country is. Based on the parameters that make up the panel of indicators, which will be evaluated qualitatively and jointly to allow the transition from one phase to another.
After the exceptional period we have experienced, we have begun the process of “de-escalation” in order to progressively reactivate economic activity in those sectors whose activity is still limited by the declaration of the state of alarm. Sectors such as transport, tourism, culture, retail, hotels and restaurants, among others, must be able to begin to recover their pulse progressively.
Standards Common to all businesses
They will be during all phases of de-escalation:
- Workplaces must be safe and workers must have maximum health and safety protection.
- Before starting their activity again, they must contact the occupational risk prevention service, so that they can work together to adapt the protocols and implement the hygienic and distance measures established by the Ministry of Health, thus fulfilling their obligation to look after the health of the workers. They then have access to an information guide on preventive measures against COVID-19 forguía informativa de medidas preventivas frente a COVID-19 para la reanudación de la actividad, drawn up by the General Council of Official Associations of Social Graduates of Spain.
- All facilities, work areas and establishments, as well as their equipment, must be periodically disinfected and sanitized.
- It is advisable to stagger entry and exit to the work centre.
- The use of masks outside the home is convenient and highly recommended when social distancing cannot be guaranteed, and their use is obligatory in the development of certain activities. Likewise, access to hydro-alcoholic solutions should be facilitated in order to practice frequent hand hygiene both for employees and for clients and suppliers who may have access to the business premises.
- The trips made, whatever the means of transport, must be made to carry out the permitted activities. The use of masks is mandatory when using public transport services, bus, rail, air and sea, and the capacity of land vehicles is restricted. Order TMA/384/2020, of 3 May
- Travel to provinces other than the one in which you reside will not be permitted, except for justified reasons.
Partial reincorporation of workers included in ERTES due to major force
It is important to point out, that according to the diffusion of the General Direction of Labor of the Ministry of Labor, during the process that lasts the “deconfinement” and the rules of “de-escalation” are in force in each of its phases, the companies that were forced to have to request authorization from the Labor Authority to suspend the work contracts of their employees through ERTE by FUERZA MAYOR, will be able to gradually recover their employees, disengaging them by joining the work in reduced hours or full time, until they have completely recovered the normal activity of their business, at which time the ERTE will lose its validity completely. With this, a period of gradual “transit and adaptation” is established, adapted both to the fixed rules of de-escalation and to the supply and demand of products and services of the companies.
The employees, as long as they remain affiliated to the ERTE, will continue to receive unemployment benefit and the company will continue to be exempt from paying contributions for them.
Likewise, Order SND/388/2020, dated May 3 (order for the development of Phase 0), which establishes the mechanisms for reactivation in Phase 0, states that the effective reactivation of social services will be promoted through the reincorporation of all the personnel necessary in this Phase of the Plan for the Transition to a new normalcy.
General de-escalation plan at national level
As we have indicated previously, the recovery of the activity and the de-escalation phases, which are four phases, the progress through each one of them is established as a guideline until reaching the phase of new normality. It starts with Phase 0 on Monday 4th May, and the forecast in the scaling to access the next phase is 15 days. Depending on the evolution and the parameters that make up the panel of indicators, it could be concluded in the period of 6 to 8 weeks.
Phase 0. Preparation of de-escalation.
Developed by Order SND/388/2020, of 3 May.
Start: Monday, May 4
Common relief measures are established for the whole country, allowing mobility outside the home, mainly in the private sphere. And measures with a very low or zero risk of contagion, as long as the safety indications are complied with, based on the responsibility and self-protection of the citizens.
- individual non-contact sports activity and walks
- home garden care
- and start of some economic activities with capacity control.
Activities
Retail stores of less than 400m2 can be reopened. Obliged to close on the occasion of the declaration of the state of alarm.
- hairdressers and beauty salons
- repair services, and the like
- as well as the opening of bars and restaurants just for take-out.
The activity of minor works in buildings, which was limited with effect from April 13th, is restored. Affecting premises, dwellings or other delimited areas of the building that are not inhabited or to which residents do not have access during the duration of the work, with certain restrictions. Order SND/385/2020, of 2 May.
Access, regulatory development and peculiarities in the activities of:
Phase 1. Initial
Pending regulatory development
Start: scheduled for 11 May
As long as the parameters established by the Ministry of Health are met.
In some islands of the Canary Islands -La Graciosa, El Hierro and La Gomera- and the Balearic Islands -Formentera- this phase will already start on Monday 4 May. Whose basic content has been developed by Order SND/386/2020 of 3 May
Meetings of up to a maximum of ten people are authorised, maintaining a minimum safety distance of 2m. Or by establishing alternative measures of physical protection, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette. This limit will not apply to live-in persons.
Sharing of private vehicles will also be allowed (with limitations). The celebration of (with a maximum limit of fifteen people in open spaces and ten people in closed spaces). The celebration and attendance at places of worship provided that they do not exceed one third of their capacity and that the general measures of hygiene and physical distance established by the health authorities are complied with.
Activities
Depending on the compliance with the panel’s indicators in the different territories, the partial opening of commercial activities will be allowed (with restricted capacity):
Restaurants and cafeterias with take-away delivery
agricultural activities
professional sports activities
tourist accommodation without the use of common areas and with restrictions, among other activities.
Trade
- Shops with a surface area of more than 400m2 may be opened. But not those located inside parks and shopping centres, which would be opened in Phase 2 (without using the common areas).
Hotels and restaurants
- The terraces can be opened with a capacity of 50%.
- The terraces that may be opened to the public under these conditions are both those on the public highway and those inside the hotel establishment. As long as they are outdoors.
- Limitations: separation of at least 2m between tables and the number of occupants at the same table. It may not be more than ten, unless local regulations have some kind of limitation in this regard.
Phase 2. Intermediate
Partial opening of activities that remain restricted in phase 1 may be carried out, with capacity limitations. How:
- restaurants with table service and terraces
- common areas of tourist accommodation
- large shopping centres
- openings of cinemas, theatres, auditoriums, exhibition halls, conferences, shows, etc.
Phase 3. Advanced
In this phase, general mobility will be made more flexible. Maintaining the recommendation of mask use outside the home and on public transport. The opening of all activities is foreseen, but always maintaining the appropriate safety and distance measures.
Among the measures to be contemplated in this phase, the opening of retail trade that had not opened previously. With limited capacity, bars and discotheques with very limited capacity, museums and cultural events, also with limited attendance, etc.
Return to normal
Once the period of social and economic restrictions is over, the epidemiological control and surveillance systems, the strengthened capacity of the health system and the self-protection of citizens will remain in place.
Arrabe Integra
Labour Consulting
