Spain is slowly coming down from the peak of the sixth corona wave. The new infections remain high, with Omikron the sick leave rises to 2 million.
Madrid – Spain* seems to be stuck at the peak of the sixth wave of coronavirus* with 3,139 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes down like in the past four days – but the 14-day incidence on Thursday evening is only 150 points below the Friday value of the previous week, which is mentioned as the high point*. The utilization of the intensive care units is also slowly but steadily decreasing at 22.3 percent. Around 2,099 Covid-19 patients are struggling for their lives in the UCIs, around 18,548 require inpatient treatment in the hospitals, which corresponds to a stable occupancy rate of 14.9 percent. Little by little, the situation in medical (initial) care is improving, more people are coming out of the hospital than in, reports costanachrichten.com *.
Coronavirus in Spain: Over 130,000 new infections per day with Omikron
The 382 deaths with Covid-19 reported on Tuesday evening are shocking. This is the highest number since March and is only partly due to late reports from the Basque Country. Thursday evening the death count came in 176. Covid-19 remains dangerous, the coronavirus pandemic has already claimed almost 92,767 lives in Spain. The new infections continue to move at a high level. With 130,888 new infections in one day or a proportion of positive tests of 37.8 percent, the ranks are thinning in all areas of society.
School classes have to be in quarantine, some parents are out of work for a week, the remaining staff have to do what is difficult to do given the high number of sick leave in companies. This impression is likely to be strong in the Mediterranean. While new infections are falling sharply in northern Spain, they remain above the national average to the south. Catalonia reports an incidence of 5,288 and increasing, Valencia* 4,264 and increasing and Murcia* 4,735 and decreasing. Only Andalusia* (1,147) appears to be less affected by this sixth wave. With the exception of Catalonia, where the UCIs are under pressure, the high rate of new infections in the Mediterranean regions is not having a greater impact on healthcare than elsewhere.
Corona virus in Spain: With Omikron, the number of sick leave increases to two million
However, the high number of new infections is reflected in sick leave. A positive Covid test entails a week of quarantine. According to the Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, ten percent of the contributors from the Seguridad Social have already called in sick because of Covid-19. That would be two million workers in a fixed relationship. Minister Escrivá sees the country over the peak of the wave and expects the infections to subside quickly. Well, the incidence figures in school children are over 4,500. It’s only relatively fast.
Madrid and Castile-La Mancha are talking about reducing the quarantine period again from seven to three to five days. Health Secretary Carolina Darias puts on the brakes and advocates a uniform solution in all regions. Experts consider the step to be premature, as many people are still testing positive seven days after infection and can spread the virus.
Many experts also dismiss the idea of recording the pandemic as an endemic disease*. Nevertheless, Catalonia announces that it will no longer record mild corona cases at the end of March or beginning of April. “Counting every case makes little sense under the current conditions,” says the local health minister, Josep Maria Argimon. As with other infectious diseases, doctors should record corona cases among their patients. Social pressure is also increasing to tackle the pandemic more calmly.
Omikron brings something new for those who have recovered. They should only start their booster vaccination five months after the infection and not after four weeks as before. It has also been found that secondary infections increase significantly with this variant. If Delta Corona brought you, you shouldn’t feel protected from Omicron. The Ministry of Health only recorded 12,600 secondary infections by November 2021, and the number then rose from 66,000 to 99,500 in the period from January 12 to 21, with the course of the disease being considered mild.
The days of the Covid passport in Spain could be numbered*. Cantabria and Asturias have phased it out, Madrid has never introduced it and is much better off than the rest of Spain in terms of incidence rates. In the meantime, however, the Balearic and Canary Islands and the Valencia region have extended the obligation to provide proof for those who have been vaccinated, recovered and tested until the end of February, and Andalusia is also tending to keep the 3G rules beyond the carnival. This will bar anti-vaccinationists from visiting many public places. De facto, the zeal for control has decreased in many places, but it’s also about the principle. How much longer can such coercive measures be justified? Is Spain really still in a state of emergency or can the country dare to take the first step to leave this plague behind? * costanachrichten.com is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
