The high court of Catalonia has authorized the Covid-19 measures approved by the Catalan government to act against the second wave of Covid-19 contagion which has seen rapid increases in contagion and hospitalization rates in recent days. The administrative disputes chamber of the court only had to rule on three measures which affect fundamental rights, and in the end gave the green light to them all: a limit on gathering size of 6 people (as was already in force up till now), the suspension of in-person classes and activities at universities and the reduction in maximum permitted capacity at religious centres.
Today's decision comes 24 hours after the Catalan government requested the court's approval for the new measures and 12 hours after the rest of the drastic measures have already entered into force - notably, bars and restaurants throughout Catalonia have been required to remain closed since midnight on Thursday night. The ruling was accompanied, however, by a dissenting report from one judge who considered that it was not necessary to specify that the freedom of assembly must be limited in accordance with constitutional jurisprudence.
Thus, for the next two weeks - at least - bars and restaurants will remain closed, except for takeaway food orders, and restrictions will also affect shops and businesses, and leisure activities, such as sport and entertainment.
Government justification for measures
The judges' report also reproduced the data given by the Catalan government in its argument on the need for the measures. The number of new Covid cases over the last 14 days per 100,000 population (IA14) has reached 268 in Catalonia as a whole, growing considerably in the last week in all Catalan health regions; the virus reproduction rate (R) has also been rising since the end of September and is currently at 1.3-1.4 in much of Catalonia, and at 1.6 in Barcelona. Hospitalizations have also grown significantly and occupancy of ICU beds is now above 30% of their total capacity in 5 of the 8 Catalan health regions (although not including Barcelona city or the southern metropolitan region).
The Catalan government's justification argues that the majority of infections located have occurred in family and social situations where "there is more contact between people who don't live together and there is a relaxation of individual protection measures". To break the chains of infection occurring in this way, the government submission argues for the need to maintain the maximum gathering size of six persons, but also to make it more effective by closing bars and restaurants where, since people do not wear masks while consuming food and drink, they tend to be in close proximity without masks for considerable time, therefore creating significant risk.
Bar terrace in Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona, prior to the new measures.
The argument states that "currently there are many European countries applying restrictions on bars and restaurants" - citing Belgium, France, and the UK - while a number of countries have "closed bars and restaurants for different periods of time", mentioning the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Ireland and the Czech Republic. Iceland, which had almost the eliminated the virus from its territory, found itself with rising rates of infection and reacted by "ordering the closure of bars for two weeks, as well as dance club, gyms and gambling venues.
The judges, in their ruling, are neither for nor against the other measures adopted by the executive since they do not affect fundamental rights. With regard to the right of assembly, generally limited to six people at present, the court maintains that this is currently safeguarded by constitutional jurisprudence. The need for remote classes for university education, says the court, is not a "transcendent" restriction, but a "modulation of the way teaching is provided", which is "consistent" with the contagion data. among the younger population. With regard to religious acts, the judges consider that the capacity limitation is not disproportionate.
Minority report
One judge cast a separate vote stating that she fully agrees with the Catalan government decree and does not believe that it is necessary to make the clarification made by the rest of the court that any limit on the right of assembly must always be shown to be line with constitutional jurisprudence, since she thinks that the decree of the government is already explicit enough and that the limitation has been approved previously.
Below: Full text in Spanish, with parts in Catalan, of the court's ruling approving the new Covid-19 measures for Catalonia.
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