Coronavírus Quarantine Praia da Luz

The current situation in Praia da Luz is the same as the rest of Portugal and a bit like the rest of Europe, with the spread of the coronavírus Covid-19, the Portuguese Government instituted a emergency situation, that of course is being followed in the village of Luz like everywhere else, ill give you a brief summary of the situation and good procedures to take to keep yourself and everyone safe.

Currently on the 21st of March everything is good and relaxed in Praia da Luz, there isn’t a outbreak but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow the rules, please note that most shops and restaurants are closed with some having take away, the supermarkets Batista and Spar are open as well as the Pharmacy but also note that these are open with restrictions and with different opening hours, the main restriction is on the number of people inside, so you will be asked to line at the door if the capacity is full, this is done to keep everyone as separate as possible, if there is a queue outside, please stand 2 meters apart from each other.

So here are the rules to follow! STAY HOME! If you don’t have a good reason to be outside then stay home, social distancing is the current recommended method to curb this disease, I still see some people chatting about in Luz, you can do so, but please keep the 2 meter distancing, try not to touch this and people, unless of course you are also at home together!

As of now and by law these are the official reasons you have to leave your home!

1. You have to go buy essential goods and services.

2. You need to move because of business or professional reasons, this includes job seeking.

3. You need for medical reasons, going to get medicine or going to a hospital.

4. For reasons of protecting people from violence, protecting children from danger or by court order like family visits.

5. For assistance to vulnerable people, this includes family members, children, elderly, dependents, as well as delivery of essential goods to these people or any that have been quarantined.

6. To accompany minors, both for short duration walks (please keep social distancing) as well to frequent school.

7. Short duration walks for physical activity (please keep social distancing), it is forbidden to do group exercises!

8. For volunteer work.

9. To go to a court, police station, post office, bank and insurance company.

10. Short duration walks with animals, feeding of animals (please keep social distancing) or going to the vets.

11. If you have a government authorization to move for security or legal reasons, this includes diplomatic missions.

12. Strictly necessary to exercise the freedom of the press.

13. If you are returning home.

14. And all other extremely important and unavoidable reasons if well justified.

If you don’t have a good reason to leave then you might be fined as well as get 120 days or up to 1 year of prison, but more important than the fines and jail is that this is for your own good but also for everyone else’s…

Do you want to help fight this virus? Great, stay at home!

If you need to leave your home please follow these basic steps to keep yourself safe!

1. Wash your hands with soap extremely well before leaving your home.

2. NEVER TOUCH YOUR FACE WHEN YOU ARE OUTSIDE, that and coughing on you are the only ways to get infected, so don’t touch for any reason your face/mouth/eyes/nose/ears while outside, this will keep you protected from contaminated surfaces.

3. Keep social distancing at least 2 meters apart, this will keep you protected from airborne spread.

4. If you need to sneeze or cough do so on a tissue and discard it on the trash, if you don’t have one, sneeze or cough into your inner elbow.

5. When possible or required wash your hands again or use alcohol based gels.

6. When returning home, leave your clothes and shoes at the door, change into slippers or socks (don’t touch them) and go wash your hands again extremely well.

That’s it follow these simple rules and you will be safe, no need for masks or gloves, just follow these rules, these are good for this current disease but also good for influenza and other pathogens, so be safe and smart, protect yourself and others stay home!

Any questions feel free to comment!

4 comments

  1. Don’t understand why there is no need for masks and gloves. If you suddenly cough are you not protecting others with the mask and protecting yourself from partials in the air if you are wearing gloves let’s say when food shopping and then discard them or wash them is that not being extra careful

    1. Right, good question, first reason is that there are not enough masks and gloves for everyone and priority should be the medical staff and people that are in the risk groups, second reason is that not all masks and gloves are of good quality, actually most for sale aren’t, so putting gloves and masks that don’t protect you might make you not follow the rules that do protect you, third reason is that most masks and gloves are disposable and should be after use but most people wont discard them putting them at even more risk, finally its also usage of masks and gloves, if someone knows how to use them they of course can protect you, but if you dont, then they wont protect you or worst put you in even greater risk by taking risky behaviour or contaminating yourself because you didnt discard a mask or you contaminated something else while taking your gloves off.

      In a perfect world Ann of course quality masks and gloves used correctly are a really good way to protect yourself and others, like the very normal use of masks in Japan or South Korea, but that is not Portugal, where people think that home made cloth masks can protect them or that using gloves is safer… its not, also most people dont have access to good quality masks and gloves and proper instruction on how to use them, so point becomes mute.

      So i think its much better to try and teach people proper social distancing and hygiene for this current virus or any kind of virus, like i said you can have your hands absolutely contaminated and you will be fine so why do you need gloves, what are the gloves protecting you? Your gloves will also be absolutely contaminated, if you touch your contaminated gloves in your face you will still get sick, if you don’t touch your face you will be fine either way and if you keep your distance to 2 meters is more than enough to protect you from airborne coughing, these don’t stay floating in the air, they go out and then to surfaces and floor, so just keep your distance and pretend every surface is contaminated and then take proper precautions when you get back home, i think this is good advice and leave the gloves and masks to the professionals…

  2. This information is very out of date and totally wrong!!!! Please get your facts right. Stay home everyone!

    1. This is absolutely not out of date, since i took it directly from the government bill and its still in effect right now, i might have made a mistake, I’m not infallible, but you have to tell me what i wrote wrong and i can check, telling me I’m out of date and wrong is not helping.

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