REOPENING PLAN REVEALED: Hairdressers and some schooling from Monday, outdoor dining on April 5
Portuguese news in English on Friday, March 12, 2021
By the numbers
It’s pretty much the same deal as last time I spoke to you. Cases are still dropping but they’re dropping slower and slower. Throughout most of February, the number of daily new cases was halving pretty much every 7 to 10 days. But from the end of February into March it’s more like every 14. The number of deaths is still dropping really rapidly though, halving about every 10 to 12 days. Deaths and hospitalisations haven’t been this low since October.
Reopening: Schools, hairdressers, dining and more
The end of lockdown is within sight. The stay-home order remains in place until April 5, when many of the biggest changes such as outdoor dining kick in but some significant steps are coming as early as Monday. I’m going to do this by date with dot points because it’s the easiest way I can think of. I haven’t included absolutely everything here so please go to the Estamos On website (it looks like they’ve completely given up on an English version) and use your browser to translate if you have any specific things you’re waiting on. Oh, and working from home seems to be remaining mandatory whenever possible.
Changes from March 15 (this Monday!)
Students in grades one to four back at school, along with pre-schools and nurseries
Hairdressers, nail salons and similar businesses can reopen for pre-booked appointments
Local lockdown: You can’t leave your council area on the weekend of March 20 and 21 or right through from March 26 to April 5.
Non-essential businesses open exclusively for delivery, sales at the door and click and collect
Takeaway coffee and drinks sales return but you can’t buy alcohol between 8pm and 6am
Businesses open until 9pm during the week. On weekends and public holidays, food businesses can open until 7pm and non-food businesses until 1pm
Businesses selling books, cars and real estate can reopen
Changes from April 5
Outdoor dining at restaurants, cafes and pastelarias (Esplanada life baby!) with up to four people per table
Grades five to nine back at school
Gyms can reopen without group classes
Outdoor physical activity with up to four people is allowed
Museums, monuments, palaces etc can open
Shops up to 200 m2 with a door to the road, and non-food markets (if the local council allows), can reopen
Low-risk sports can return. As far as I can tell, this is any sport not listed on the very bottom of this Directorate-General for Health document (Which is a pdf in Portuguese, sorry). Basically, I’d check with wherever you go to play sport but it seems like (very roughly) individual or two-person sports are low risk, team sports are medium and high-contact sports (martial arts, rugby etc) are high risk.
Changes from April 19
High school and universities reopen in person
Indoor dining with four people or outdoors with six until 10pm weekdays and 1pm on weekends and public holidays
All shops and shopping centres can open
Cinemas, theatres and concert venues can open
Medium-risk sports return
Outdoor physical activity with up to six people
Lojas de Cidadão (“citizen shops” where you can deal with various paperwork-type stuff) can reopen
Outside events allowed with reduced capacity (I can’t be any more specific than that, sorry)
Changes from May 3
Indoor dining with six people, outdoors with 10 and without a limit to opening hours.
All sports and gym classes
Big outdoor events with reduced capacity
Weddings and baptisms at 50% capacity
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Traffic lights are back to control the reopening
The entire plan is contingent on the country maintaining control of the pandemic, Público reports. The four little rectangles below will dictate whether we take a step forward, back or stay where we are. Basically, if new cases stay below 120 per 100,000 per fortnight, that’s good. If the R number (explained here by the BBC in English) stays below 1, that’s good. If both of those criteria are fulfilled, we’re green and can go forward to the next stage of reopening; if one is true but the other is not, we’re orange and stay where we are; and if both are over the limit we’re red and have to take a step back. Right now the R number is 0.78 but slowly rising and the cases are at 105 but slowly falling.
The Prime Minister’s message
Prime Minister António Costa spoke to the country on Thursday night, starting around dinner time or a bit later, as seems to be the case with all important announcements in this country (I know I’m sending this pretty late but I had to finish work first). He described the plan as “very conservative”, designed to avoid risks and go forward with “safety and confidence”. The PM stressed the way forward from here would depend on everyone, emphasising the importance of individual behaviour and appealing for a “scrupulous following of the rules”.
In brief
How Portugal silenced ‘centuries of violence and trauma’. Please read this in-depth look at Portugal’s slave-trading past and failure to grapple with it. (Al Jazeera, in English)
EU says 'no indication' AstraZeneca vaccine linked to blood clots. Some countries have paused the vaccine’s delivery as a precautionary measure but the EU says the number of vaccinated people developing blood clots is no higher than the general population. (BBC, in English)
Johnson & Johnson’s Single-Shot Covid Vaccine Approved by EU. The vaccine is hugely promising because it only requires one dose and can be stored in the fridge for much longer than Pfizer and Moderna’s jabs. (Bloomberg, in English)
Portuguese island is the first European territory to entirely vaccinate its whole population. Everyone on the Azorean island of Corvo has received both doses. Ok, that’s only 322 people, but still! (Público)
On a lighter note
Usually, I try to keep this at least vaguely related to Portugal or the pandemic but, well, I’ve had to print a lot of things recently and this video is just way too real. Maybe it’s just me but I couldn’t stop laughing the first time through, or the next three to five times if I’m being honest. Anyway, now that I’ve built it up way too much, enjoy!
This is an important update. Please keep sharing on Facebook, in real life or anywhere else you see people a bit confused by the latest news.