While the Balearic government continues to place much emphasis on the situation with Covid patients on hospital wards and in intensive care, various indicators have decreased to the point that further restrictions in Mallorca are likely to be lifted next week.
The cabinet is now reviewing measures every week rather than every fortnight. Last Monday, spokesperson Iago Negueruela suggested that the nighttime ban on social gatherings in Mallorca could be eliminated at the next cabinet meeting. The 14-day cumulative incidence rate is a key guiding factor. Having fallen consistently during August, it was down to 251.0 on Friday.
The ban has already been lifted in Minorca, where the rate is now below 200, and in Formentera, which has had a higher incidence rate than Mallorca (it still does have) but is considered to be less of a risk.
The government imposed this ban principally as a means of curbing "botellón" street gatherings. Negueruela said on Monday that "many measures" have been put in place to stop the botellón and that they have been working, albeit he referred specifically to Palma. The 14-day incidence rate for the 16 to 29 age group may well reflect this ban. It had been as high as over 2,500 (for the whole of the Balearics). On Friday, it was 351.67. Still the highest among the different age groups, but clearly nothing like what it was.