QCOSTARICA – The elimination of the daytime sanitary vehicle restrictions in less than a week, given the drop in infections and hospitalizations due to covid-19, is applauded by the commercial sector.
The president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Restaurants (Cacore), Jorge Figueroa, said, “It’s fabulous, now they (consumers) can go out for two days; that greatly limited the arrival of customers.”
The most important modification to the vehicular restrictions is that starting on March 1, from 5:00 am to 11:00 pm, drivers will be able to circulate freely from Monday to Sunday.
The change applies throughout the country except in the city of San Jose where between Monday and Friday, vehicles will continue to be restricted based on the last digit of the vehicle’s license plate in the same area and way before the pandemic, with the only change the hours.
In San Jose city, between 5:00 and 11:00 pm on Mondays, vehicles with license plates ending in 1 & 2 are prohibited from circulating, Tuesdays 3 & 4, Wednesdays 5 & 6, Thursdays 7 & 9, and Fridays 9 & 0.
However, there will continue to be a complete prohibition in the evenings, every evening, from 11:00 am to 5:00 am, throughout the entire country, save for vehicles listed under the well-known exemptions.
“Basically, now we earn an hour more and that helps us a lot. The difference is enormous because dinner is not cut,” according to Figueroa.
Also, he added, it implies the possibility of returning staff to 100% employment.
However, he pointed out that businesses must maintain sanitary measures and protocols.
Figueroa did raise doubts about the issues of capacity, because for him, what must be guaranteed is distance.
The capacity in restaurants and other establishments is one of the measures that has not changed in months. It remains at 50%.
“The 1.8 meter distance is scientific, but the percentage of capacity suddenly seems a little whimsical. That measure was adopted immediately because it seemed reasonable, but perhaps not so much now, yes, I repeat, we start to review the issue of distances between tables.
“So, if there is adequate distancing, there are places that could have gaps of between 60% and 70% with social distancing. The business is less affected and more people could be rehired,” suggested the Cacore president.
