Under the umbrella of the alarm state , the regions apply mobility restrictions to cope with the pandemic of coronavirus in Spain : the widespread You curfews have joined perimeter confinements of various kinds, under the strategies adopted by each territory .
As a general rule, the autonomous communities have established four levels of restrictions that are linked to the geographical area in which they are applied. During the third wave of the pandemic, most regions have opted for the most restrictive measure of all: municipal confinement .
While La Rioja or Castilla-La Mancha extended the limitation of mobility in all the localities of their territory , Andalusia applies it based on a certain level of incidence and Catalonia began doing it only on weekends.
In any case, the validity of the municipal perimeter confinement implies that residents cannot enter or leave their place of residence , except for the exceptions provided by the Royal Decree of the central Government or those defined by the autonomous communities themselves.
Confinements within the autonomous community
Going down the scale of restrictions, is the provincial confinement . This measure has been applied in conjunction with municipal confinement whenever the cumulative incidence of the coronavirus has escalated in a territory and is usually maintained afterwards, since it involves the limitation of mobility within a wider geographical area .
On the other hand, the autonomous communities also have the power to restrict mobility out of their territory. The regional confinement was one of the first restrictions were put in place since before Christmas of 2020, when regional governments tried to limit mobility to lower the second wave of the pandemic in Spain.
At the same time, the executives of each territory have also chosen to restrict the number of people from different coexistence groups that can meet , both in the public sphere -cafes, bars or restaurants-, and in their own homes.
Beyond the confinements dependent on the administrative divisions of Spain, the autonomous communities also have the power to apply restrictions in other areas within their territory without affecting the entire population as a whole.
The most restrictive modality within this category is the local or insular confinement , which is practically next to the province. A restriction widely used in the archipelagos of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands , Catalonia has also resorted to it at some point in the third wave.
The confinement regions or islands involves the selection of a lower administrative territorial unit purely autonomous region or province. However, its more selective application implies that it does not affect as many of the population simultaneously, something that does occur in the upper echelon.
Finally, although it has been confined in a circumstantial autonomic way, the Community of Madrid has opted for a much more selective confinement model: confinement by basic health zones .
This measure is a restriction that resembles, although not in all cases, the structure of neighborhoods or city districts and serves to limit the mobility of a smaller proportion of the population .
The Madrid Executive combines this level – less restrictive due to the number of people it affects – with specific municipal confinements, a restriction that is at the opposite end of the scale.
