Murcia Today weekly bulletin 29th May 2020

The beginning of the week was somewhat frantic as the Murcia Region moved into phase 2 of the de-escalation process and major announcements about the decision to allow foreign tourists to first of all return to Spain during the summer and then enter the country without a 14 day quarantine dominated the media.

By the middle of the week the Spanish language media were totally focused on a major row which has broken out at the top of the Guardia Civíl in Madrid.

The Government in Spain is facing the same questions about its handling of the Covid crisis as are being asked in other countries…could the Government have done more, could deaths have been prevented by banning football matches, marches, public gatherings earlier, is the Government to blame for deaths in care homes, did the Government do enough to stop the spread of the virus, did they take bad decisions which make them culpable, was the decision to lock down the right one given the financial hardship it has caused for businesses….etc.

There has been a spate of protests against the Prime Minister, some of which are undoubtedly politically motivated and have taken the form of marches and demonstrations, although in Murcia this week a cake shop put out a decorated “protest tart” which was withdrawn following complaints from clients who believe that the government has done a good job.

Obviously culpability is difficult to establish, but some people are so aggrieved by what they believe is negligence which has lead to the death of a loved one, that criminal cases are already being filed.

Judge Carmen Rodríguez-Medel, has been charged with investigating the government delegate in the Madrid region, José Manuel Franco, for his role in authorizing events in early March which were attended by thousands of people, such as the International Women’s Day march and rally on March 8th which was attended by 120,000 people. Public gatherings must be authorised by the police and relevant governments and co-ordinated to ensure there is no public unrest and that the public is given proper protection during marches etc.

Although similar marches took place all over the country on this day, and there were many other events in which thousands of people gathered in public, there were already hundreds of cases in Spain at this point and the Government was certainly aware of the danger inherent in holding gatherings and demonstrations in the days that preceded the declaration of the state of emergency on 14th March, to say nothing of allowing millions to pack into public transport during a period in which the virus was actively highly contagious and spreading, as well as continuing to allow in flights from Italy when it was known that there were significant numbers of cases there.

The report concludes that no events on the scale of the 8-M marches should have been held after 5th March, but has come in for criticism as it contains many inconsistencies and contradictory evidence.

On Monday the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, sacked the head of the Guardia Civíl in Madrid, Colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos, citing “loss of trust”, allegedly for failing to inform his superiors of material submitted to the judge, although this was denied and his sacking attricuted to a re-modelling of the command chain. His second-in-command, Lieutenant General Laurentino Ceña, handed in his resignation, to show his disagreement with the decision. And the bitter political arguments about the whole situation have filled the media all week, overwhelming all other aspects of the Covid virus here.

Much is at stake as so many thousands of people have died, including health workers, police and emergency service workers, and should there be proven negligence, their families will undoubtedly seek financial recompense and public figures will be called to answer for their decisions in criminal prosecutions.

Much of the expat community has little interest in politics as we’re not permitted to vote in national elections, but it has been a brutal week in Spanish politics as the blame game begins.

For most of us here, the focus has been on life regaining some sort of normality and planning for the summer to come, particular in relation to the visits of family members or the chance to get back to the UK or our home country, after lockdown

So let's begin as normal, with the Covid situation.

Spain

A week ago on Friday 22nd May the Spanish Health Ministry reported a total of 234,824 cases with fatalities numbering 28,628, but since then the reporting system used has changed yet again, and this week the media has focused on the widely disparate data reported by the Ministry which has made it impossible to actually confirm the true number of either cases or fatalities.

The problem is that the Ministry is attempting to rectify historic data submitted by the health authorities of the 17 regional governments as well as modify the way that the new data is being reported to better understand how the virus is evolving. However, it has been a problematical process and the Ministry believes that it will be a further week before we have accurate figures.

Even then we know that the figures will in no way relate to the true scale of the pandemic in Spain and on Thursday the MoMo ( Sistema de Monitorización de la Mortalidad Diaria compiled by the civil registries of Spain) reported that it had detected 43,034 more deaths during the period of 13th March to 22nd May than would be normal, although the official statistics produced by the Health Ministry are 27,118 deaths, only 63% of the totals suggested by the MoMo.

Of this excess 94% correspond to people over 65 years of age and 82.5% to people over 74 years old.The National Center for Epidemiology report that 87% of people who died of coronavirus in Spain were over 70 years of age.

The MoMo data also demonstrates how unequal the deaths have been across Spain. For example, in Madrid, the epicentre of the epidemic, 162% more people have died than expected, whereas in the Canary Islands, the percentage is only 7%.

What can be garnered from the new data produced by the Ministry is that the daily death rate appears to be maintaining a level well below 100 deaths a day (Thursday was 38) but there is a slow rise of new cases. In the last seven days there have been 3,062 diagnoses of coronavirus, of which 244 started to show symptoms in the last seven days on Thursday, an increase from the 199 on Wednesday and 243 of Monday and Tuesday.

On Thursday Spain began a 10 day period of official mourning for all those who have died from the Covid-19 pandemic, amongst them many health workers, members of the police, emergency workers and volunteers.Acts of recognition were held outside town halls across the region, paying homage to not only the dead, but all those who have worked to save lives throughout this pandemic.

Region of Murcia

Figures published on Friday for the Murcia Region show that there have been no deaths in the region for eight consecutive days, although 6 new cases were recorded on Thursday.

The number of fatalities remains at 149 as it has done all week, and there were no additions to the cured total either, which remains at 1,290.

140 people are in home isolation and the number of hospitalizations  fell  to 21, 3 less than yesterday, of which 4 remain in the intensive care unit.

Number of fatalities: 149; no deaths this week,

Number of active cases: 161, only a small fall from the 172 of last week 

Murcia has 21 patients hospitalised, with 2 in intensive care (9 less in hospital than last week).

Sixteen municipalities of the 45 in the Murcia Region have registered new cases in the last 2 weeks:

South and southwest:

Totana, which was not put through to Phase 2 along with the remainder of the region because of an outbreak involving six agricultural workers two weeks ago, has registered 3 new cases. The families who were put in quarantine as a result of that outbreak have been allowed to return home this week, and two of the original 6 have been released from hospital.

Lorca 8; Alhama de Murcia 1; Mazarrón 2.

North and northwest

There are five new cases in the northwest area; 2 in Calasparra, 2 in Caravaca de la Cruz and 1 in Cehegín, plus Jumilla 1 and the 9 in Yecla, both in the Altiplano, or the north.

Central Murcia and Ricote Valley

Alcantarilla 2; Archena 5; Cieza 6; Murcia 7; The five cases in Archena were reported on Sunday and are all members of the same family. A further nine close contacts have also been quarantined.

Mar Menor and Cartagena

Cartagena 3; Torre Pacheco 1; La Unión 2

No other municipalities have reported new cases in the last 2 weeks.

De-escalation

The week began with Murcia moving into phase 2, and most of Monday was spent trying to explain what was and wasn´t permitted during phase 2. The first confusion arose over bar and restaurant openings as the national Government had limited the capacity both internally and externally to 40%, but protest from the sector that it would be unviable to open with less than 50% resulted in an amendment enabling the regional governments to make their own decisions about how far they would allow businesses to go in this intermediate phase. The Murcian regional Government opted for 50% capacity on both terraces and internal areas. As the week went by however, businesses reported that the public was reluctant to sit indoors and everybody wanted to be on the terraces outside, so their financial situation had not improved as anticipated.

The second area of confusion related to swimming pools and communal sporting facilities which are allowed to open technically, but in many cases have not. As anticipated, the administrators on many golf resorts and urbanisations are finding it difficult to meet the hygiene requirements of the Ministry of Health and are waiting until the rules are more relaxed ( or we move out of de-escalation in June) to re-open, stating to residents that it is too expensive to pay staff to monitor the areas and take bookings,administer gel etc while we are still in the de-escalation process. A lot of residents have been very unhappy this week on some golf resorts which charge substantial community fees throughout the year and the best off have been those smaller communities where residents have been happy to "pvy up" the work. 

Many municipalities have decided that they will be unable to comply with the restrictions and will not open public pools, Torre Pacheco being one example this week of the councils which have dedided not to open their open-air summer pools this summer.

Beaches have also featured heavily in the confusion this week. Councils were only told on Saturday that they would be opening their beaches on Monday and some simply weren´t able to do so. Los Alcázares was the most visible example, the council closing the five kilometers of coastline within the Los Alcázares municipality as the “costas” department of the national government was finalizing the sand replacement project and concluding works to repair disability access points damaged by the autumn and spring storms. Work has also been underway all week to repair damaged paseos and access points to the beaches.

Other beaches opened for bathers and sunbathing but bathers were confused by the red no-bathing flags on some beaches. This is because there are no lifeguards and in the Mar Menor in particular there have been a raft of issues which will be covered below making bathing a not such pleasurable experience. (see below)

After June 15th some lifeguard positions and beach services will open and on July 1st the normal contingency of lifeguards and Cruz Roja personnel will be in position across the region as the summer season officially begins.

Later in the season our councils will be using drones to ensure that bathers are behaving themselves and some will even be cordoning off 4 metre squares of sand to ensure that we all social distance, but for the moment the beaches are open for your enjoyment.Click on the link to the Murcia beach guide which gives detailed information about all the beaches in the Murcia Region 

Other popular areas were able to re-open, amongst them the mud bathing area of the Baños de Lodo in San Pedro del Pinatar and the visitor centres in our regional parks are once more dispensing leaflets and maps, encouraging visitors to enjoy the beautiful natural areas of the region.Tourist offices are also re-opening, amongst them Águilas and Lorca who are both ready for visitors seeking maps! 

Inter-provincial travel

Again, a great deal of confusion. To clarify, for the moment,  no travel outside of the province in which you reside is permitted, so you cannot drive across the border into Alicante province. The only exceptions are situations such as having to pick someone up from the airport, in which case documentation proving this is your reason for the journey is required.This will NOT change this week even though Alicante is moving into phase 2 on Monday; until phase 3 is concluded, no inter-provincial travel is permitted. You are however, allowed to travel freely throughout the province in which you live, so you can shop anywhere now. This week for example, the shopping centres opened, Espacio Mediterráneo in Cartagena being one, so life is pretty good again for most of us!

No more free parking! Blue areas are no longer free to park

Murcia government opts to stay in phase 2 and Totana will rejoin the region on Monday

70% of the Spanish population will be in phase 2 of the de-escalation by Monday.

Earlier in the week it was reported that the Region of Murcia could request advancement into phase 3 earlier than scheduled due to the positive evolution of its figures, but the regional government has decided to exercise caution and remain in phase two for another week.

Although the virus is evolving favourably here in Murcia, there have been two outbreaks which have reminded the regional authorities of just how quickly the virus can re-surface; one in Totana and another in Archena. Totana will now be permitted to move into phase 2, along with the remainder of the region.

Click to see the full report which details which regions of Spain are moving into different phases from Monday 1st June including Ceuta, on the African coast, which could well be moving back down to phase zero due to a serious outbreak

Other Covid-related news:

Archena joins major Spanish cities issuing stiff fines for throwing gloves and masks on the floor:On May 21st, the Spanish Government made face masks compulsory for everyone over 6 years of age, unable to apply 2 metres of social distancing in a public area, increasing the demand for disposable masks by millions a week across Spain.

Across the country local councils are starting to include sanctions for incorrect disposal of masks and gloves in local byelaws and impose fines for non-compliance. This week Archena has joined locations such as Cádiz, Burgos and Toledo in imposing stiff sanctions on those caught leaving masks on the floor with fines of between € 600 and € 2,500.

This week the French charity Operation clean seas has reported finding significant numbers of masks and gloves in the sea off the French coastline; "soon there will be more masks than medusas (jellyfish) in the Mediterranean" they said.

Tourism:

The big tourism news this week focused on two topics;

- Spain to lift two-week coronavirus quarantine for overseas arrivals from July 1st

- Spain would re-open its borders to foreign tourists in July

On Saturday Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that there would be "a tourist season in Spain" this year, and that the Government planned to create "green corridors" to permit not only the movement of Spanish nationals, but also international tourists.

And "from the beginning of July" he said, foreign tourists will once more be permitted to enter the country "in secure conditions".

There was an immediate outcry from the hostelry sector demanding that the PM be more specific about the date of this opening, but it wasn´t until Monday afternoon when the date of 1st July was confirmed following an inter-ministerial meeting held via video conference call.

No details have been given at the moment whether this will apply to citizens from all countries, only those in the EU or only those with which prior agreement has been reached. Today for example, Greece published its list specifying 29 countries from which the country will accept tourists from the 15th June onwards (which didn´t include the UK or Spain).

Since May 15th, the Spanish Health Ministry has required travellers arriving from outside the country to remain isolated for 14 days, but from 1st July this requirement will also no longer apply.

Some form of hygiene controls will be used at the entry point, but details have not yet been released specifying what form the controls will take. Other countries are using a rapid test prior to embarcation or upon arrival or temperature controls in the airports. Greece today said that it would be testing on arrival.

As we already know, internal movement between provinces will occur "at the end of June" when the de-escalation process concludes and Spanish nationals are permitted to move between provinces within the country. At the moment this is planned for the 22nd June.

This week Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has suggested that the state of alarm – which has been in place since March 14, and has given the government extra powers to combat the spread of the virus – could be ended in some areas before others, a process which may begin as early as this week.

However, the topic has been somewhat overtaken by intense political arguments about the Madrid report and there has been very little debate over this subject this week, a situation which is likely to change following the weekly videoconferences with the regional governments and the PM’s discourse on Saturdays.

The announcements from the Spanish Government prompted a flood of bookings on hotel booking sites this week and online booking systems for all tourism-related sectors reported a significant uplift in interest including car hire, sports activities, rural accommodation and camping sites. Airlines also made several announcemenst this week about Spanish routes and package holidays:

TUI plans holidays for Mallorca, Canary Islands and Spanish mainland as Spain re-opens:The German tour operator sold 19 billion euros of holidays in 2019, operating in more than 100 countries

Ryanair announces flights to Spain from 1st July....Last week Thousands of passengers received messages advising them that their flights to Spain in early July had been cancelled!

But that was last week……..

This week Ryanair confirmed it plans to operate 40% of its normal July flight schedule, from 1st July. “Ryanair will be offering daily flights from countries all over Northern Europe including Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Holland, Germany to the key holiday airports of Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus from 1 July. Irish and British families, who have been subject to lockdown for the last 10 weeks, can now look forward to booking their much needed family holiday to Spain…. “ the press release said, sparking off a fierce debate on social media about who had received messages and who hadn´t…..accusations of “Ryanair bashing” alongside satisfied customers who had successfully booked a family visit and those complaining that they still haven´t received a refund for flights cancelled by Covid…..

Brussels Airlines to resume flight operations with reduced network from 15th June:Brussels Airlines includes Alicante, Barcelona Ekl Prat, Bilbao, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Madrid,Málaga, Menorca, Seville, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife amongst its destinations.

Binter resumes Corvera airport flights in July to the Canary Islands  and domestic flights will resume at Corvera from the middle of June

Binter airline, based in Gran Canaria, announced on Friday that it will be resuming flights between Murcia Corvera airport and the Canary Islands from July 4th, with flights weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

On Friday morning the Minister for Public Works, José Ramón Díez de Revenga, announced during an interview with the Onda Regional radio station, that Corvera airport will resume domestic flights in mid-June.Click for full article

Spain and the UK excluded from countries permitted to travel to Greece from 15th June: Greece announced on Friday that it would accept visitors from 29 countries but the UK and Spain were not on the list. Click to read

Other news:

Police to press manslaughter charges after electrocuted body of migrant worker found in Lorca: The man was found to have been working illegally in Spain. This article examines the case of an illegally working immigrant whose body was found a year ago, and the police investigation which has now concluded with manslaughter charges being brought against the farmer who employed him. Unfortunately the topic of exploitation of these people who cross from Africa in tiny boats seeking a better life ends all too often in the shopping trolleys of UK supermarket wars, where the desire to sell cut-price Mediterranean produce means few questions are ever asked about how it can be produced so cheaply.

Baby loggerhead turtles hatched from eggs laid in the Calblanque regional park are growing rapidly. The young turtles will be released this summer from the same beach in which the eggs were laid, one of only four nests on Spanish beaches last summer. The “head start “ project hopes to increase their chances of reaching adulthood from one in every thousand that are born. These youngsters have progressed from a porridge of hake, mackerel, squid, shrimp and mussels to solid food of the same components and now have hard shells. Click to read the full article

Tiger Mosquito continues to make a nuisance of itself.

This year the Murcia Region, as well as other neighbouring provinces including Alicante, have experienced significantly wetter conditions than normal this spring, leading to a proliferation of mosquitos, including the Tiger Mosquito. Tiger mosquitos can breed in a tiny amount of rainwater, and this year conditions have been perfect for them.

Many of our town halls have begun intensive spraying in two phases, first with a larvicide and secondly with an insecticide, trying to limit a population explosion.

This week several councils have again been out spraying and this week we have written about spraying in Cartagena(click here) and Mazarrón (click here).

Moratalla resident faces charges as more than 100 animals are found dead and in terrible conditions: Inside the house shocked agents found more than 100 animals, some of them dead and in various stages of decomposition, including animals frequently kept for food such as rabbits, chickens, doves and even a pig, as well as goldfinches, cats and dogs.

There was no food or water available. Click for full article

Three hospitalised after car ploughs into the front of a house in the early hours: The incident occurred on the road between Ceutí and Alguazas. Click for article

Drunken electric scooter rider was 6 times over the limit:The Guardia warn that anyone purchasing this type of electric scooter must have a driving licence and insurance and matriculate the vehicle.

This type of electric vehicle is becoming increasingly popular as they are cheap and economical, but the Guardia warn that potential purchasers should check the technical details of any proposed purchase in advance to ensure that the correct form of driving licence is obtained beforehand. In this case the driver did not understand that the vehicle required matriculation and had to be insured, taxed and inspected in the same way as a larger scooter.

New X-ray machine improves quality of healthcare for Mazarrón residents:Residents can receive an immediate diagnosis without the need to travel to Cartagena. Click for article

Bus intercepted in Murcia with four possible cases on board; three of the men have now walked away from the hospital

On Thursday it was confirmed that a bus from Andalucía was intercepted at around three in the morning when it stopped in Murcia at the San Andrés bus station for four people to get off the vehicle.

22 people were on board at the time, but the bus was permitted to continue its journey to Barcelona.

The four were tested and one was found to be positive, so all of those on the bus will now have to be quarantined in their own local health areas.It is a bizarre situation given that travel between provinces is currently prohibited for this very reason. The only exceptions are: "health, work, professional or business reasons, return to the place of family residence, assistance and care for the elderly, force majeure or a situation of need".What makes it particularly difficult to understand is how the four men of Magrebi origin (north African coast), managed to justify buying tickets as the four men concerned had reportedly escaped from a Red Cross reception center in Guadix, Granada and were amongst six people in the same group who were being sought by police.Their flight was reported by the Guardia Civíl to police forces along the bus route when it was ascertained that they had purchased tickets and the police were waiting for them when the bus pulled into the station, suitably attired in PPE. The four men were taken straight to the Arrixaca hospital for testing.One tested positive, but on Friday it was reported that the other three, who had no Covid symptoms had discharged themselves and disappeared!

Mar Menor

This week the Mar Menor beaches have featured prominently in the news, due principally to the spread of algae and the failure to rectify problems exacerbated by the Gota Fría of September 2019.

Coverage began at the weekend when presidents of the resident associations of Punta Brava, El Carmolí, Los Urrutias, Estrella de Mar and Los Nietos demanded an urgent meeting with the Government Delegate to discuss the condition of their beaches and the failure of the competent administrations to resolve the issues.

This particular corner of the Mar Menor has been problematic for a considerable time, as the prevailing winds tend to push silt and debris into this shallow corner, which has little natural water movement, the silt accumulating and organic waste decomposing, the combination of all of this making the water shallower and limiting water movement still further with each passing year.

Neighbours have complained for years that this area lacks the investment made into infrastructural solutions found in other more tourism-driven sections of the lagoon and there is no denying that the situation is worse this spring than it has been for many years.

But residents face a complex pision of responsibilities, as the regional government, CHS, local council and national government all have different responsibilities and for a long time have been passing the buck from one to another, attempting to avoid spending their own budgets and apportioning responsibility onto other bodies.

The representative of the regional government with responsibility for the Mar Menor is the director general of the Mar Menor of the Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and the Environment, Miriam Pérez, who reiterated on Sunday that the central government is "the only competent administration for the removal of dry and mud in the Mar Menor, and which can prevent the stagnation of water and the decomposition of algae ».

This, she says, is defined in Title VI of Law 22/1988, of July 28, relating to coastal management, which clarifies the distribution of powers in matters of maritime-terrestrial public domain, and which highlights that the State must undertake any actions at sea and inland waters, as well as for the regeneration and recovery of beaches.

The Government Delegate is the official representative of the Spanish State in the Murcia region.

Cartagena council however, believes that the regional government also has responsibility for maintaining the beaches and this week announced that it was beginning a legal process called “un requerimiento por inactividad” which translates loosely as “a request for inactivity” and is a document produced prior to seeking legal recourse to oblige an administrative body to comply with its obligations. In this case the council intends to try and force both the regional government and the national government via the costas department (Demarcación de Costas del Estado) to fulfil their obligations to the residents of the municipality and remove both the sludge and accumulated organic materials as well as the dried mud from the southern beaches of the Mar Menor, as currently bathing in these areas is impossible and unsanitary.

The council maintains that both the wet and dry materials should have been removed during the winter months to minimize the impact on the environment and guarantee cleanliness of the waters during the forthcoming summer months.

“These elements have been left in the water, aggravating the situation of the beaches, while a debate on the competencies between the regional and national administrations is ongoing. The council of Cartagena intends to end this by submitting a requirement to both parties which could conclude in a lawsuit against the person responsible and with a probable recourse to the Ombudsman,” said Noelia Arroyo, vice mayoress and head of the Mar Menor municipal commission.

Having made this announcement they duly closed off beaches in Los Urrutias and Punta Brava.

The regional government cannot afford to face criticism for inaction as so many businesses face financial ruin this summer due to the Covid shutdown, so the decision has been taken to put the endless arguments about who is financially responsible for rectifying the long-term problems on the sidelines and for the regional government to send in cleaning teams to minimise the immediate impact of the algae (as well as negating the claims made by Cartagena council in their action).

So on Thursday the regional government responded by sending in a total of 90 manual workers, pided into 18 cleaning groups and contracted for a period of 15 working days to clean up the organic waste and sludge from the shores of the Mar Menor beaches.

San Javier and Cartagena each have six groups of 5 people, and Los Alcázares and San Pedro del Pinatar each have three teams of 5.

The Director General of the Mar Menor, Miriam Pérez,went along to see the start of the cleaning works on Thursday morning and took the opportunity to criticise the national government, saying that the measures taken "derive, to a large extent, from the non-compliance by the Government of Spain of its obligations and from its inaction” and that the regional government was considering “sending the bill” to the national government.

In addition to this contract, the regional government says that it is budgeting 1.1 million euros to contract cleaning teams for the Mar Menor over a period of 16 months the bureaucratical processes for which ”are in an advanced phase”. This will include a marine cleaning boat and pers as well as shore teams.

Unfortunately, the topic is likely to continue to be prominent in the news for the next few weeks as the weather warms up. The teams will ensure that the fringes of the lagoon are clear for bathers, but the stain of green and yellow algae can clearly be seen further out in the waters and this is likely to spread further as the waters warm. It’s difficult to clear the algae from deeper waters and is an endless task.

At the moment the water quality is perfectly safe for bathers, although the algae and silt in some areas makes it unpleasant.

300 hectares of farmland to be returned to original condition

This week the regional government has also initiated restitution proceedings for the first 300 hectares of agricultural land that lacks water rights after receiving confirmation from the CHS that 64 parcels had no right to drill wells to extract and process saline water from the huge aquifer which lies below the Campo de Cartagena, desalinate it and use it for irrigation.

All of these correspond to zone 1, located from the AP7 and in towards the coast, 50 of them coming under the jurisdiction of the  Mar Menor decree.

The Minister of the Environment, Antonio Luengo, confirmed this week that the processes are now underway  compelling the owners to return these lands to their original state, although there are no deadlines for the completion of this restitution, and everything will depend on the characteristics of each inpidual plot. The agriculturalists are obliged to dismantle any infrastructures for which they lack documentation and return them to their natural condition, so if the land was not irrigated with artificial irrigation beforehand, then it can no longer be cultivated in that fashion unless its owner has a legal well.

So, enjoy your second week in phase 2 and make the most of the freedom we have to take advantage of the beautiful weather as we head out of May and into June, obviously still being vigilant as ther are still active cases out there.

Thank you for your support and have a good week.