Ximo Puig guarantees hotel and leisure establishments full support to enforce COVID passport

Friday 7th January 2022 – PRESS RELEASE with Mike Smith

The President of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, has guaranteed the hospitality and leisure sector all the support of the regional government to enforce the requirement to show the COVID ‘passport’ to enter such establishments. In this sense, he has advanced that the possibility of collaborating with the Public Prosecutor’s Office to open legal proceedings in the face of coercion and threats from individuals or denialist groups.

He explained this after the COVID-19 security coordination meeting held this week at the Palau de la Generalitat, which was also attended by the regional justice, interior and public administration secretary, Gabriela Bravo.

“The Generalitat will defend those who defend legality,” said the president, who added that people “have the right to think the way they want, but not to obstruct compliance with the law“.

“The Generalitat wants to recognize the effort of hospitality sector with the implementation of the COVID certificate throughout the pandemic,” said the president, who also stressed that the sector “has shown great responsibility in complying with and enforcing health measures that they have adopted to protect the public“.

He stressed that the Generalitat Valenciana condemns any threat or coercion that is carried out against those responsible for the establishments, “who do nothing but comply with the law for the benefit of the health of Valencians“. In fact, he also reminded that the regulations that provide for the application for the COVID certificate in leisure and catering establishments will remain in force until 31 January.

“We want to send a very clear message to the hospitality sector: if they have any problems with members of the public who reprimand them or try to threaten them after asking for the COVID certificate, let them immediately notify the police, because they are complying with measures that have the endorsement of Supreme Court and the Generalitat Valenciana will always be by their side,” he remarked.

As he recalled, vaccination is still the main asset in the fight against COVID-19. Specifically, the risk of hospitalization, ICU admission and death from COVID-19 is lower in vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals in all age groups. Unvaccinated people under the age of 60 are 9 times more likely to be hospitalized and 25 times more likely to be in the ICU than those who are vaccinated. Unvaccinated women over the age of 59 are 7 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than vaccinated women. In the 12-29 age group, unvaccinated women are 9 times more likely to be hospitalized and 28 times more likely to be admitted to the ICU.

The Government Delegate, Gloria Calero, also took part in the meeting of the COVID-19 Security Measures Commission; the regional secretary of Tourism, Francesc Colomer; the regional secretary of Security and Emergencies, José María Ángel; the president of Conhostur, Manuel Espinar, and the president of Fotur, Víctor Pérez; the general secretary of the same entity, Juanjo Carbonell; the general of the VI Zone of the Civil Guard, Arturo Prieto; the regional head of Operations of the National Police of the Valencian Community, José Domingo Piris, and the commissioner of the Unit of the National Police Corps Assigned to the Community, Marisol Conde.

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