As part of the gradual economic reactivation, starting next Monday, April 15, the beaches and hotels of Puerto Vallarta and Bahía Banderas will reopen, following the pertinent sanitary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among citizens.
“We have taken decisions that have allowed us to adjust the definitions of what can be done in these two municipalities so that hotel and tourist activity can begin their recovery process, ” said Governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro.
The reopening measures will be gradual, so during this period, the hotel occupation will be less than 30% in order to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
“We will adjust the level of hotel occupancy allowed by levels of between 25 and 30%, but we are going to start operating the common areas, otherwise people will not come to Vallarta. If you have a hotel that does not have a pool and does not have access to the beach, there is no way to do it, “said the Jalisco president.
“What we agreed to is an exercise in co-responsibility. The operating protocols of the common areas have been validated by the technical boards of both state governments. It will be the businessmen themselves who help us monitor them and guarantee their compliance,” he added.
Alfaro emphasized that with the agreements and measures taken, they will guarantee that all public beaches and spaces are equipped to receive tourists.
In addition, they have started with the revision of protocols for bars, piers, and sports centers (such as golf courses), tourist routes, shopping malls, and gyms.
Secondary establishments may return to operate as sanitary conditions allow, since if there is a relapse of infections, they may remain closed indefinitely.
“We are going to measure the effect of the opening decisions, as you know can be seen for up to 15 days, the infections that we are experiencing today are not the product of partial reopenings on June 1, they come from before,” said the Governor.
The reopening protocols in Nayarit and Jalisco will be the same, so they urge citizens not to be confused.
During this Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th of June, the authorities will give the hoteliers their respective accreditations to start operating under the stated terms.
The beaches of both states will remain guarded. In the case of private hotels, it will be their security employees who are in charge of taking care that sanitary measures are complied with, while those on public beaches will be government employees.
Regarding the reopening despite the high records of infections in Mexico, the Governor of Jalisco pointed out that they reached this agreement with the businessmen after talking about the economic difficulties they have had, and in response to those who have been left unemployed by the contingency.
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“We have to learn to live with fear because we cannot stop the economy any longer, because then instead of dying of the virus, people are going to starve. It is not a matter of will […] we have to understand that what we are experiencing requires the responsibility of everyone, each of us must also take care of ourselves, do the right thing, not leave the house except for what is essential, we must be able to reactivate the economy little by little,” said Alfaro.
He noted that otherwise, they would have to wait another year when a vaccine could be made available, however, under the current context, everyone must adapt to the new normal.
The Governor pointed out that Puerto Vallarta was one of the first places to present positive cases of COVID-19, which is why, in the same way, it is one of the first to emerge from the highest point of infection. In addition to having good hospital capacity.
