Police and civil guards call for strengthening protocols to prevent the spread of coronavirus


On January 24, the Police Occupational Hazard Prevention Unit ordered police officers deployed at border posts to extreme safety measures using single-use nitrile gloves and masks for frisking. Instructions were also given regarding the inspection of baggage and documentation of passengers from China and the areas affected by the coronavirus.

Generically, this instruction included recommendations such as washing your hands, covering your mouth and nose with tissues when coughing and sneezing or avoiding close contact with anyone who has symptoms of respiratory diseases, such as coughing and sneezing. It was also requested to avoid crowds and mentioned measures at airports such as Australia and the United States such as controlling the body temperature of passengers.

Precisely the latter is something raised by the SUP Police union. "We demand that the necessary coordination with the health officials be established, in case it is necessary to carry out temperature controls, in addition to extending the provision of protection means to all police officers assigned to airports or border posts," they say in a circular.

The SUP recalls the police intervention to quarantine about 1,000 people in a hospital in Adeje, in the Canary Islands, and calls for an urgent and monographic meeting of the Commission of Occupational Health and Safety of the Police to adopt "already" improvements in protocols and material means. He demands to be able to "act without improvisations" by understanding that the instruction of January 24 "is not enough."

"DO NOT CREATE UNCONTROLLED SOCIAL ALARM"

Other unions such as the CEP have called on the Interior to draw up a joint instruction to "clarify" the guidelines to follow both in the Police and the Civil Guard and some representative organizations of the Mossos d'Esquadra have also stressed the "need to provide material and inform the agents of the risk of contagion.

The majority association in the Armed Institute, AUGC, supports the latter but with an initial warning: "While there is no need to encourage the creation of an uncontrolled social alarm, it is true that the Civil Guard must guarantee at all times the occupational health of its workers. "

AUGC has requested different Specialties Headquarters to provide adequate materials for the protection of the health of civil guards. It also claims "standards of action, especially for the Units for whose work they are most exposed to face this type of threat", in accordance with the regulations of occupational risk prevention of the Body.

Similarly, different provincial delegations have submitted the same request to the respective Commanderies Headquarters, as this is a situation that can affect civil guards "throughout the national territory".

The Council of Ministers has agreed this week to establish an interministerial commission on the coronavirus under the presidency of Vice President Carmen Calvo and the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa. For his part, the director of the Center for Coordination of Alerts and Emergencies of the latter Ministry, Fernando Simón, has ruled out that the Government considers an additional closure or control at the borders.

Health has also met with the Autonomous Communities within the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), where it was recommended - without even prohibiting - not to travel to areas such as northern Italy. In addition, citizens of this country and Japan, Iran, South Korea and Singapore have become considered risk patients.

As of Tuesday, mild cases of coronavirus will be able to be followed at home and the criteria for starting tests to detect the virus for patients with pneumonia admitted to hospitals have also been changed.

However, Minister Illa rejected the implementation of additional measures, such as controlling the temperature of travelers. "Currently, no further measures are necessary," he said. What will be done is to prepare informative pieces to prevent contagion with the idea that they are spread on the planes that land in Spain.

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