The Ministry of Health has just informed that starting August 31st and for nine consecutive days, (the so-called “transition”), in the cantons that are under orange alert, only the following businesses will be able to operate:
From Monday to Sunday, without time restrictions:
•Domiciliary services.
• Public institutions in general and municipalities.
• Customer service platforms for public and municipal institutions, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Branches of Correos de Costa Rica for the reception and delivery of parcels, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Courier and parcel delivery branches, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Public and private health establishments (clinics, pharmacies, hospitals, laboratories, doctor’s offices, radiodiagnosis services, emergency services, optical, macrobiotics, among others), veterinary clinics and drugstores.
• Health services in mobile units.
• Community garbage collection services.
• Supermarkets, suppliers, grocery stores and convenience stores, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Bakeries, butchers and greengrocers, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Farmer’s fairs, with a 50% occupancy capacity, with strict protocols and a differentiated time slot for senior adults over 5:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
• Establishments for the sale of agricultural, veterinary and animal food supplies, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Establishments where there is commercialization of agricultural, livestock, fishing and aquaculture products, florists, markets, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Hardware stores and sale of construction materials, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Locksmiths, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Stained glass windows, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Vehicle rental “rent a car”.
• Vehicle Technical Review (RTV), with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Repair of vehicles, engines in general, motorcycles, tires, cycles and bicycle workshops, agricultural equipment, machinery and heavy and industrial equipment, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Vehicle oil change service (lubricentros), with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Sale of spare parts, parts, pieces and accessories for vehicles, engines in general, bicycles, agricultural equipment, machinery and heavy and industrial equipment, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Car wash services.
• Supply and supply of fuels.
• Hygiene supply establishments, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Laundries, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Public or private banking and financial services, in financial or non-financial entities, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• The sale of lotteries and gambling products duly authorized by the Social Protection Board (JPS).
• Funeral homes and / or vigil chapels, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Public, private or mixed nurseries supervised by the Comprehensive Care Council (CAI) or the Ministry of Public Education (MEP).
• Public and private care centers for vulnerable and dependent people.
• Hotels, cabins or accommodation establishments, with a 100% occupancy capacity.
• Swimming pools, restaurants, hotel gyms, cabins or accommodation establishments, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Centers with thermal water pools, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Beaches and lakes from Monday to Sunday from 5:00 a.m. at 2:30 p.m., with distance measures of 1.8 meters respecting social bubbles.
• Accommodation activities for short stays (motels).
• Parking lots or public parking lots.
• Activities behind closed doors without public in theaters (including the National Theater and the Melico Salazar Popular Theater), churches, municipalities with their municipal council sessions, district councils, committee meetings and other municipal meetings, as well as any other closed space for the development of virtual transmissions, with strict compliance with the preventive protocols and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and with the minimum required personnel.
• Activities of agents dedicated to the sale of live animals (livestock auctions), with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Shooting ranges, with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• National parks, according to the list published by the Ministry of Environment and Energy (Minae), with a 50% occupancy capacity.
• Shops within the national and international terminals of the Juan Santamaría International Airport (AIJS) and Daniel Oduber, with an occupancy capacity of fifty percent (50%).
• All those other establishments with a sanitary operating permit that do not provide attendance to the public in person.
They may operate weekdays from 5:00 a.m. at 10:00 p.m. and on weekends from 5:00 a.m. at 8:00 p.m., with an occupancy capacity of 50%
• Restaurants (restaurant-bars may only open a restaurant area with the sale of alcoholic beverages).
• Sodas and coffee shops.
• Food courts.
• Stores in general.
•Department stores.
• Beauty salons, barbershops and aesthetics, with appointment scheduling.
They may operate weekdays from 5:00 a.m. at 10:00 p.m. and on weekends from 5:00 a.m. at 8:00 p.m., with differentiated capacity:
• Public self-service mode, understood as the withdrawal of products remaining inside the vehicle.
• Mode of withdrawal of food in establishment to take away.
• Adventure tourism, with mandatory use of a mask or face shield while putting on and taking off the safety equipment to carry out the activity, and respecting social bubbles.
• Individual sports, outdoors or indoors, without the public, according to the list authorized by the Ministry of Sports.
• Contact sports for training of highly competitive national teams; and competencies in the category ofhigh performance or professional, behind closed doors and without the public, according to the list authorized by the Ministry of Sports.
• Contact sports for individual training without contact or physical approach, according to the list authorized by the Ministry of Sports.
Rest of the month (As of September 9th ):
Between September 9th and 30th, 2020, the Government of the Republic has a phase of “controlled opening” in which all establishments with a sanitary operating permit will open with customer service except 23 activities considered high risks, such as bars or discos.
The premises may open from 5:00 a.m. at 10:00 p.m. weekdays and from 5:00 a.m. at 8:00 p.m. on weekends, with 50% of the total capacity.
In this stage, the Executive Branch will implement a model that it called “Costa Rica works and takes care of itself”, which calls for a joint responsibility of government institutions, municipalities, and business and labor sectors.
In fact, President Carlos Alvarado warned that if the established measures are not complied with, as well as the protocols for hand washing, sneezing, and respect for social bubbles and physical distancing, a tightening of restrictions will be analyzed. The latter will be done first at the district, cantonal, regional and even national level.
For this case, the Ministry of Health only provided a list of establishments with differentiated capacity made up of:
• Public self-service mode, understood as the withdrawal of products remaining inside the vehicle.
• Take-away mode in food establishments.
• Cinemas and theaters with mandatory use of a mask or face shield, with seating separation measures of at least 1.8 meters, respecting social bubbles and with a ticket office or electronic reservation.
• Drive-in movie theater.
• Activities, organizations or congregations in places of worship with mandatory use of a mask, with a maximum occupancy capacity of 75 people, this number of people does not include the staff of the place (which must be the minimum), with measures of 1.8 meter distance respecting social bubbles.
• Event rooms for business or academic activities with a maximum of 75 people (with seating separation measures of at least 1.8 meters, respecting social bubbles and with lists of attendees with identification number and contact number). The 75 people do not include the logistics staff of the event.
• Event rooms for activities with a maximum of 30 people (with seating separation measures of at least 1.8 meters, respecting social bubbles and with lists of attendees with identification number and contact number). The 30 people do not include the logistics staff of the event.
• Adventure tourism, with mandatory use of a mask or face shield while putting on and taking off the safety equipment to carry out the activity, and respecting social bubbles.
• Beaches and lakes, from Monday to Sunday from 5:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
• Individual sports, outdoors or indoors, without the public, according to the list authorized by the Ministry of Sports.
• Contact sports for training of highly competitive national teams; and competitions in the high-performance or professional category, behind closed doors and without the public, according to the list authorized by the Ministry of Sports.
• Contact sports for individual training without contact or physical approach, according to the list authorized by the Ministry of Sports.
The activities that will remain closed in the sixth month of the Pandemic are:
•Concerts.
•Public shows.
• Fairgrounds.
• Bullfighting activities.
• Buffers.
• Sports activities with the public.
• Popular celebrations.
• Community shifts.
• Entertainment activities in shopping centers.
•International Film Festival.
• Organization of conventions and trade exhibitions.
• National Festival of the Arts.
• Teatro Popular Mélico Salazar (except for virtual broadcasts).
• National Theater (except for virtual broadcasts and guided tours with groups of no more than 10 people).
• Games for children (“playgrounds”), skate parks, jumping parks, inflatables and the like.
• Amusement Park.
• Parque Viva (except for car races without spectators and the drive-in movie theater).
•Pubs.
• Nightclubs.
• Spas.
• Mass Religious activities and processions.
• Gambling and betting activities; like casinos and bingo halls.
Vehicular Circulation Restriction Measures
As part of the September commercial opening schedule, the unification of the vehicle restriction at the national level was also announced, by eliminating the differentiation of prohibitions according to the type of emergency alert. Thus, drivers will be able to circulate up to five times a week without distinction from the alert that falls on the canton in which they mobilize as of August 31st.
Vehicle Transit will be allowed between 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 5:00 a.m. at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Cars will only be restricted to circulate according to the following order in License plate number:
Monday those finished in 1 and 2
Tuesday those finished in 3 and 4
Wednesday those finished in 5 and 6
Thursday those finished in 7 and 8
Friday those finished in 9 and 0
Saturday those finished in even numbers
Sunday those finished in odd numbers.
