As Benidorm holidays suffer another blow residents on Spain’s Costa Blanca come out in support of Mayor

As Benidorm holidays suffer another blow, residents on Spain’s Costa Blanca have come out in support of the mayor.

TONI PEREZ has demanded transparency from the regional government after its decision to not apply for Phase 2 of relaxed lockdown at this moment.

He said yesterday there is a “lack of transparency” and “demanded information” from the Ministry of Health after Ana Barcelo announced “no municipality, territory, province or area of health within Valencia Community” will be put forward for the next phase of Spain’s de-escalation.

He said: “We want to think that there are some data and indicators that support and back up this decision, but the one who has the information is the Generalitat Valenciana and the Ministry of Health, not the municipalities.”

Hannah Carroll also questioned why more information is not shared: “Why can’t the government give figures for districts? I live in Benidorm and would like to know the real health situation here, not just overall in the province.”

While Kevin Abram added: “I read somewhere on Facebook that the reason given was that Valencia had not engaged enough people into positions to do the contact tracking… I actually found this hard to swallow due to the current high levels of unemployment. Surely this is just an excuse to delay?”

And Kevin Railton said: “But Sánchez was saying he’s going to end lockdown on June 2, what’s going on!!!!.”

Sheree Ruiz is concerned about the implications for trade. She said: “Sad for the businesses that can’t open, the workers that can’t go back to work. There is very little of the virus in the area now so they are doing more damage to the economy by not opening more of it up.”

However, not everyone is in favour of moving to the next stage of de-escalation.

Andy Raynor said the Ministry of Health’s decision is “sensible and correct.”

“People need to get used to Phase 1 and know the limits. I have friends and family taking pictures for FB/IG of dinners, lunches all happy… toasting their new found freedom. Forgetting one thing… to follow the rules of social distancing and masks. They think that because they know them, it’s OK and they won’t get infected.”

He added: “I have had arguments about this, this week. Go to a friend’s house yes… stay distant from them, if not you have to wear a mask. So no, no we are not ready for Phase 2.”

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Written by

Tara Rippin

Tara Rippin is a reporter for Spain’s largest English-speaking newspaper, Euro Weekly News, and is responsible for the Costa Blanca region.
She has been in journalism for more than 20 years, having worked for local newspapers in the Midlands, UK, before relocating to Spain in 1990.
Since arriving, the mother-of-one has made her home on the Costa Blanca, while spending 18 months at the EWN head office in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
She loves being part of a community that has a wonderful expat and Spanish mix, and strives to bring the latest and most relevant news to EWN’s loyal and valued readers.

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