The Peruvian Foreign Trade Society (Comex Peru) He asked the authorities to reevaluate the curfew plan and, instead, speed up vaccination with an emphasis on the third dose, in addition to monitoring compliance with gauging, distancing and mask use protocols.
According to a study by Apoyo Consultoría, prepared at the request of Comex Peru, vaccination and the lifting of restrictions have allowed economic activity to become more dynamic in lagging sectors, such as restaurants.
On the contrary, the study “Implications of implementing curfews as a measure to control the pandemic in the event of a third wave in Peru” ensures that generalized curfews do not contribute to the reduction of deaths and have a negative impact on activity economical.
In this sense, Comex Peru reported that the extension of the current curfew by three additional hours per day “would significantly reduce employment in restaurants”, which would affect care personnel, kitchen, cleaning, security, among others.
Jessica Luna, General Manager of Comex Peru, explained that the GDP of restaurants is reduced with each hour of extra curfew that the government implements. In this sense, a 1% drop in restaurant GDP is related to a 0.7% contraction in employment in the sector.
“In addition, when the touchdown begins at 11 pm the restaurants are forced to close at approximately 9 pm, because they have to dedicate time to cleaning and leaving their workers, who will not find transportation to return home” , he remarked.
Indeed, according to the study presented by Comex Peru, 48% of the surveyed population agrees with accelerating vaccination, while 80% considers that the government should not prioritize restrictions on the mobility of people.
“We must recognize the important advances of this government in immunization, but there are still regions with vaccination, in the mountains and jungle, where the levels are not so homogeneous,” he remarked.
Finally, Comex Peru considered that the vaccination card “has generated the desired impact”, for which it asked the Government for greater control on the issue of capacity, distancing and use of masks “to promote sectors that are still lagging behind.”
Curfew, the health factor
The former Minister of Health, Óscar Ugarte, said that, in effect, the statistics in the last year have put on the table the validity of establishing very rigid curfew schedules, aimed at reducing mortality in citizenship.
However, he stressed that the competence of the State at the time of supervising businesses is fundamental, since the breach of gauges and the exemption of the vaccination card as a requirement to enter a restaurant also occurs in broad daylight.
“There are countries where discos work during the day. So the problem is not the curfew, but the business, where people remove their masks in a closed space. That is suspended at any of the times, and that’s fine with me. Responsible social behavior has a more important effect, especially when we are on the verge of returning to classes ”, he indicated.
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