Bus fare protests, work slow-down continue; City brothels back in business; Drop useless Covid security measures, doc says; Guayaquil highway closed again

Jueves, 26/8/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Documental y música en espacios culturales (Documentary and music in cultural spaces) – Friday a las 15:00, there will be a documentary in the Planetarium about the history of the first voyage to the moon on Apollo 11. El sábado a las 19:00, there will be a concert in the ex Escuela Central with Latin rhythms including la salsa, el bolero, and la cumbia. Both events are free, but there will be limited capacity. Those attending must wear a mask and respect social distancing.

Titular –

Doble problemática por viajes a México (Double trouble for trips to Mexico) – See Thursday’s CHL for story.

Cuenca –

Adjustan medidas de bioseguridad (Adjusting biosecurity measures) – Fernando Ortega, a intensive care physician at the IESS hospital, said that some of the biosecurity protocols implemented at the beginning of the pandemic need to be eliminated. He named shoe disinfecting trays, disinfecting tunnels, and infrared thermometers as unnecessary. He emphasized that the virus is not viable on the bottoms of your shoes or clothing or surfaces. He said that taking temperatures does not identify Covid patients dependably, precisely or safely since taking temperatures on the arm, hand or front aren’t adequate for identifying fevers. Also many patients are asymptomatic and pass this test without problems.

Bus owners and drivers continued their protest for higher fares with a march on Thursday.

Ortega pointed out that the virus has evolved during the pandemic and doctors have learned more during that time. The understanding is the virus is transmitted mainly through inhalation of aerosols. Based on this, he called for considering ventilation protocols at schools that open for in person classes. Basically this means opening windows and doors. <And since there’s no heating or cooling, kids won’t be letting all the warm air out or all the hot air in. Ignore what your parents told you – you won’t be wasting electricity or gas.> He also suggested air exchange systems with high efficiency filters that hospitals use. He recommended installing CO2 meters to measure air quality in closed spaces such as classrooms. When the spaces are saturated, teachers can call a recess and send the kids outside. The measures that do work are mask wearing, maintaining distance, and hand washing and disinfecting.

Different institutions, businesses and shopping centers such as the Milenium Plaza are updating their biosecurity protocols. The Milenium Plaza removed the shoe disinfecting trays and tunnels about 3 months ago following WHO recommendations. They installed electric alcohol dispensers for customers’ hands and put in signage to maintain recommended capacities and distancing. They have a policy to prohibit the entry of people, even those fully vaccinated, who do not wear masks. One advantage the shopping center has is an openable skylight over the food court which provides for ventilation. <At least until it starts raining.> It has increased its cleaning staff so that the trays, seats and tables are constantly being disinfected as are the bathrooms.

Transporte urbano seguirá protesta (Urban transporters will continue to protest) – Manolo Solís, president of the CTC said they would continue to protest for a fare revision. He said they do not have the resources to continue opoerating the buses which will be progressively removed from service until conditions change and allow them to start circulating again. <Take the Gringolandia buses out of service. You can rely on gringos to start complaining loudly to the city.>

Comienza fase de traslados entre las unidades fiscales (Phase of transfers between fiscal units begins) – Parents and guardians of public school students in the Sierra-Amazonía can request transferring their kids to different schools on https://juntos.educacion.gob.ec until domingo. Those without internet can call 1800 338 222 from 8-17:00 until mañana.

Sucesos –

Large boulders fell Thursday on the highway to Guayaquil, closing it indefinitely.

Plan para reapertura de burdeles (Plan to reopen brothels) – 3 brothels in the tolerance zone reopened for business. Sandra Tenecela, representative of the casas de citas (dating houses -your phrase for the day — have fun with it.), said that the pilot plan will be completed in a month and then authorities will analyze it to decide if their operating permits will be allowed to continue or if there wil be new restrictions. 3 locations, Chicas Chicas, Oasis, y Candil were operating during the first 15 days of the pilot program with Mirador and Trébol added later. The establishments complied with all of the biosecurity protocols including Covid tests, vaccination certificates, and monthly exams for the sex workers. Capacity in the common spaces of the casas de citas is 30% and liquor sales are prohibited. Hours are from 11-20:00. With the brothels closed due to the pandemic, there are problems with clandestine brothels in houses and prostitution on the streets.

Region –

10 días se cierra la vía Paute Méndez (Paute Méndez road closed for 10 days) – The Paute-Guarumales-Méndez highway will be closed from hoy to el 5/9 so that a temporary Bailey bridge can be installed. The permanent concrete bridge will be built at km. 99 in the Jurupis gully sector in Sevilla de Oro canton. Alternate routes between Azuay and Morona Santiago are the Gualaceo-Plan de Milago-Limón highway and the Sígsig-Chiguinda-Gualaquiza highway. Once the Bailey bridge is installed, light vehicles can return to the vía Paute-Guarumales-Méndez.

La vía Cuenca-Molleturo-Guayaquil permanecerá cerrada hasta nuevo aviso (Cuenca-Molleturo-Guayaquil road closed until further notice ) – A massive rockfall Thusday on the Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme highway to Guayasquil, at km. 49, has closed the road indefinitely as engineers and transportation workers try to figure out how to stablize the hillside above it.

And that´s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne