The mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, has said today that “Santa Cruz will continue to recommend the use of masks in outdoor public spaces beyond Saturday June 26th, regardless of what the Pedro Sánchez Government decides" adding that "this decision to eliminate the obligation is not even understood by the head of Public Health Epidemiology of the Canary Islands Government and president of the Spanish Association of Vaccination, Amós García Rojas, when 50% of people in the Canary Islands have not yet been fully vaccinated, the minimum required by the health authorities to stop using masks”.
The mayor continued that “it is ridiculous that, with the levels of contagion in Tenerife over the past few weeks, that the island's municipalities have not been summoned to a meeting by the Canary Islands Government or Tenerife Cabildo to establish common guidelines and regulations, and in fact we have had address both administrations via the Governing Council urging them to urgently summon the 31 municipalities of Tenerife”.
At the same time, the Santa Cruz Council recalls in a statement signed today by Bermúdez "the restrictions that are in force and the obligation of all residents and citizens of the city to comply with sanitary measures to avoid the spread of Covid-19" and insists all the measures must be observed, highlighting "that the last update has occurred after the publication of the Resolution of June 17th".
On the other hand, and in light of the complaints raised this weekend regarding the beach of Las Teresitas where more than 60 people participated in gatherings without masks, ignoring distancing and drinking in public, the City Council is studying the feasibility of closing the beach car parks at night in order to prevent people meeting there.
Apart from these ‘botellons’, the Local Police also highlights that in the past week a total of 49 acts of infraction have been raised for not wearing masks, illegal gatherings, consumption or possession of narcotic substances, or not respecting the established closing hours. These include nine fines processed for "24-hour" stores, which, despite municipal warnings, systematically fail to comply with the closing hours of said activity, selling alcohol and food after midnight which is forbidden.
