The Catalan High Court (TSJC) has this Thursday authorized the compulsory use of the Digital Covid certificate to access bars and restaurants, gyms and sports facilities and nursing homes throughout Catalonia. As planned, the measure comes into force almost immediately: tonight at midnight as Thursday turns to Friday, and has an initial duration of two weeks. The above establishments thus join the nightlife sector and other indoor celebrations at which people dance as places and occasions where the Covid 'passport' was already compulsory in Catalonia. It remains to be seen whether this measure will be extended further in the coming days, as the Catalan health department advisory committee has recommended it for cinemas and theatres. All motivated, as the Catalan government said earlier this week, by the rising statistics for coronavirus infections and the continuing call being made for more people to get vaccinated.
Where do you need to show the Covid passport?
Specifically, the court has endorsed the use of the digital Covid certificate, for the following places and activities in Catalonia, to be checked upon entry:
- Restaurant and bars, for entry to interior spaces. Terraces are excluded from the restriction. Other exceptions are restaurants/dining rooms in workplaces, hospitals and health centres, universities, schools, and social services, for the users and employees of those services.
- Gymnasiums and spaces where physical activity is practiced, including the Sant Cugat High Performance Centre.
- Residential care centres, without affecting the "minimum right to accompany patients" and other exceptions in case of justified need.
- Concerts, music festivals and other cultural events where the audience is standing and has the option of dancing, in enclosed spaces.
- Congresses, conventions, trade fairs and 'festes majors', when there are special musical activities involved also have their entry regulated by Covid certificate.
These are in addition to the existing requirements to show a digital Covid certificate for entry to:
- Nightlife venues like nightclubs, karaoke and musical bars
- Weddings and banquets where dancing is an option and hotels with interior dancefloors
It should be remembered that the Covid certificate records three different Covid statuses which all give the holder the right to enter an establishment: either that the user is fully vaccinated, has had a negative PCR test result in the previous 72 hours or an Antigen test in the last 48 hours, or has fully recovered from the Covid illness.
In Catalonia, anyone enrolled in the public health system can download their Covid certificate from the La Meva Salut website. However, on Thursday evening, hours before the measures came into force, the Catalan health service informed that high traffic levels on the site was causing delays for users.
Court: situation requires "attention without delay"
Backing the Catalan government's decision, the TSJC justified itself using jurisprudence from Spain's Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. "We understand that the measures whose ratification is proposed comply favourably with the triple judgment referring to a [pandemic] state which is now becoming aggravated again as already indicated and requires due attention without delay," the court said in the resolution that was communicated this afternoon to the Catalan government.
The court resolution refers to the current accelerating spread of the virus and the possible relaxation of social protection norms in public events: "In a environment of festive attitudes, crowding, social interaction, difficulty in maintaining social distance with a mask, etc ... a greater risk of contagion through relaxation of some precautions can be generated. They are necessary, given the incidence of virus spread that Catalonia still maintains, and which could lead to superspreading in the situations mentioned."
The court also acknowledges that the measures applied so far "are proportionate, given that they involve the possibility of reopening and restoring many activities that had been paralyzed or suspended, and the balance between the minimum restriction of rights entailed by the production of the documentation required and the protection of legal assets such as individual and collective health and life".
The TSJC, however, warns in its resolution that if the Catalan government seeks to expand the measures further it will require stronger arguments: "The further and unbridled addition of more and more activities will reach a height that will require greater motivation and strengthened justification".