Mass queues as Santa Cruz market re-opens after being closed for months

The Santa Cruz market reopened in the Tenerife capital yesterday (Sunday) after months closed as a result of the current pandemic, in a new location, between Avenida Marítima and Avenida de la Constitución just outside the centre of the city.

The Rastro will now be open every Sunday from 9am to 3pm, for which 384 street vendors have been authorized, and they must be assemble their stalls between 7am and 8:30, and disassemble them by 4pm as part of the permission. At the current health alert level 3, only 50% of the capacity is allowed, so strict control of access to this new site was carried out.

PREVENTION MEASURES:
Some of the health and hygiene measures that are mandatory for both merchants and shoppers, and that appear in the resolution, are that the owner must have in view of the buyers and at the disposal of any authorized municipal official, on the stall itself, the administrative authorization that allows the performance of the activity, as well as the corresponding document that proves their identity. Likewise, the use of masks by everyone is mandatory, regardless of the maintenance of interpersonal safety distance.

The measure of maintaining the interpersonal safety distance of 1.5 metres must also be complied with at all times; the maximum capacity must be respected, and authorized and registered dispensers of hydroalcoholic gels or disinfectants with virucidal activity must be made available to the public and workers.

Smoking is prohibited throughout the market, as is the use of tobacco inhalation devices; the itineraries established for the movement of people must be respected, and each stall must ensure its lateral enclosure, in such a way that it is not possible to carry out the sale through the sides of the stalls, which must remain properly isolated.

The items for sale will be arranged on surfaces that separate them from the ground by at least 50 centimetres and users will only be able to eat and drink in a designated area where the stalls that are exclusively dedicated to the sale of food and drinks are located, being separated from the rest.

They must also guarantee compliance with the specific obligations that are established in section 3.2 of the Agreement of the Government of the Canary Islands, dated January 21, 2021 (BOC No. 15, of January 22, 2021) for catering and restaurant activities, as well as its successive updates.

Similarly, payment by card or other means that do not involve physical contact between devices will be promoted, as well as the cleaning and disinfection of the equipment required for this. Likewise, whatever safety and hygiene measures are agreed upon by the health authorities must be adopted.

Finally, the indications established in both the Self-Protection Plan and the Contagion Prevention Plan, as well as the obligations established in the Municipal Ordinance regulating the exercise of the sale carried out in the Rastro, must be respected at all times.