In parliament on Tuesday, President Armengol acknowledged that the health situation in the Balearics is still not good and so justified the need to continue taking measures to stop the advance of the pandemic, while being flexible where the situation has improved, as is the case in Minorca.
"We are on the right track," the president stated, and she highlighted figures which show that "measures are working". On September 12, the average incidence per 100,000 inhabitants was 356. By October 4, it was 146. Nevertheless, this is well above an EU target of 60. The positive test rate, "a very important indicator", stands at 4.02% in the Balearics, but this is also above an EU recommendation of three per cent, even if it is below the World Health Organization's five per cent.
Responding to a question from Josep Castells of Més in Minorca, Armengol intimated that additional relaxation of measures in Minorca will be announced on Saturday.
She insisted that "the second curve is bending", drawing attention to much lower hospital numbers. Occupancy of intensive care unit beds by patients with Covid is 20.6%, while it is 7.6% on hospital wards.
Armengol gave these figures following questions from the leader of the opposition, Biel Company of the Partido Popular. Company moved on to the economy, asking the president if she believes that the reactivation plan is working, when the number of people registered with social security fell by 13,250 last month.
The president expressed her regret that the PP had not "joined the reactivation pact", and she defended the principal measures designed to protect businesses and workers, such as last week's extension to ERTE. Company suggested that the reality is that "we are the worst in the whole of the European Union in terms of economic figures". Unemployment in the Balearics has risen by 90%, almost four times more than in the Canaries, and with Catalonia second in the country on 28%.
Company attacked Iago Negueruela, the minister for the economic model, tourism and employment, saying that reactivation measures have "cushioned" unemployment, when the islands have 37,000 more unemployed than last year.
Armengol observed that the Balearic economy is affected by its dependence on tourism, noting that tourism activity worldwide has fallen 70%. She stressed the need for economic diversification and for improving tourism quality and criticised Company for making a comparison with the Canaries, where the high season is now beginning.