What nobody wanted of the new normality: 131,000 cases and 500 dead
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Today, when two months have passed without a state of alarm, the outbreaks exceed a thousand, but Spain launched the new normality with a dozen , among them those of the Basque hospitals of Basurto and Txagorritxu, although those that caused the most concern were those unleashed among the workers of various fruit and vegetable farms in three Huesca regions.
Although these sources were looked askance, the administrations were busy with the exchange of the baton, which returned from the Government to the communities; Exhausted after the marathon of passing through the de-escalation phases, it was up to each one to design their own new normality, combining security with recovery from the economic disaster.
At the same time, citizens were recovering the freedoms that the unstoppable advance of the virus forced them to curtail with confinement: reunion with family and friends, work, getaways, vacations... The cocktail was served.
It is true that the characteristics of the cases are now different and that the hospital system in general does not suffer at the moment as in the peak of March and April. But "let no one be confused: things are not going well", as the director of the Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, acknowledged yesterday.
21 times higher incidence
Since mid-June, an increase in the number of cases has been observed, while the number of hospitalizations began to be noticed at the beginning of July and ICU admissions and deaths did so as of the last week of last month.
On June 21, Spain had a total of 246,272 infections since the start of the pandemic; 125 were detected on the day of the inauguration of the new normality.
The cumulative incidence rate (diagnosed cases per 100,000 inhabitants) in the previous week, in which 740 positives were detected -254 of them with symptoms-, was 3.55, and 8.08 in 14 days , in which the number of infections amounted to 1,668. The incidence for this period was 1.57 per 100,000 inhabitants.
According to the latest balance from the Ministry of Health, the total number of people infected from January 31 to yesterday afternoon is 377,906. Of those, 3,349 received confirmation on Wednesday.
In the last week, 35,582 -5,511 with symptoms- have been diagnosed, with which the cumulative incidence rate has multiplied by 21, up to 75.66.
And in the last two, the cases rise to 66,905 and the incidence is 142.27, a figure 90 times higher than that of two months ago and the highest in all of Europe, according to the latest data available from the Center European Commission for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The situation is very uneven by communities, being the ones hardest hit by the outbreaks the ones that have increased their incidence the most in 7 days: today it continues to be Aragon with 243.09, although there it is decreasing as that of Madrid increases (164 .23) or the Basque Country (145.85), while Catalonia has managed to lower it significantly to 67.74.
These same communities started the new normality with rates of 6.9 in the case of the Aragonese; 7.91 in Madrid; 2.76 in the Basque and 6.57 in the Catalan.
The number of deaths has increased fivefold
On June 21, five people with covid died in Spain; In the first week of the new normality, until the 28th of that month, 24 patients lost their lives. The global amounted to 28,323.
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Fewer than those who died on a single day in August: the peak of 28 deaths was reached on the 8th, and throughout this last week, in which 122 people have died, the number of daily deaths has fluctuated between 14 and 21.
Numbers that, despite everything, are far from the 888 deaths recorded on March 31, the deadliest of the pandemic, according to updated information from Health. The total amounts to 28,813, 490 more than those registered two months ago.
In the same way, on the dates of the end of the confinement, around a hundred patients were hospitalized every week in our country, and those who were admitted to intensive care ranged between 10 and 20.
The weekly hospitalizations have been exceeding a thousand in recent days and reached 1,407 yesterday, while up to 90 patients have entered the ICUs. In total, 4,636 people are admitted to Spanish hospitals with Covid-19 -4% of the occupation-, and of these, 522 are in the ICU.
Imported cases and nightlife
As of yesterday afternoon and since the end of the de-escalation, the communities have reported 1,777 outbreaks and 18,968 cases to Health in all autonomous communities and cities. But 1,126 remain active, with 12,400 associated infections.
Contrary to what was initially thought with the opening of borders and the return of mobility, since May 11 only 1,361 imported cases have been registered, 149 of them this week. One in five of the total - around 300 - came from 228 commercial flights.
And it is that 31.6% of the outbreaks have their origin in the social sphere; Notable for the number of infections they are associated with are those linked to entertainment venues, with 58 outbreaks and around 2,700 cases, while those related to family gatherings and friends add up to more episodes (229) but fewer positives (1,600 cases).
In fact, those related to nightlife are causing much of the community transmission in several communities. And these are the reasons that the Government and communities used on August 14 to decree its definitive closure.
Residences
Then there are outbreaks that affect members of the same family who live in different homes, which account for 22.2% of outbreaks and 11.7% of cases.
The third most frequent group is the one with a mixed component (14.6% of the outbreaks and 11.6% of the cases), where transmission moves, for example, from the family environment to others such as work or the workplace. social, or vice versa. At work, 13.1% of the outbreaks and 18.7% of the reported infections have arisen, including those originating from seasonal workers.
Although in recent weeks, eyes have returned with concern, and also with disbelief at not having learned from the most tragic lesson of the pandemic, to residences: the coronavirus has once again hit them with outbreaks like those unleashed in that of Burbáguena (Teruel), which has accumulated more than 70 positives and eleven deaths.
The outbreaks in social-health centers represent 7.7%, above the health centers (2.3%) and those that occur among other socially vulnerable groups (2.6%).
Average age drops
According to the latest data from the Carlos III Health Institute, the highest proportion of covid-19 cases occur in the 15-59 age group, which represents 70 % of the total. It is a percentage that has not varied substantially throughout the crisis, although the median age has.
During the peak of spring, that median was 59 years, and it was higher in men (62), than in women (57).
The figure has gradually decreased and in mid-July it stood at 48 years, although it was higher in the case of women than in men (50 vs. 47 years); in August it has been dropping weekly to 38 years until the last data released by Health yesterday was 35.
More tests, more asymptomatic
Health authorities are currently working hard to discover whether this general rise in the curve can be attributed to increased diagnostic capacity.
In the midst of the debate about the shortage of tracers, the truth is that the suspected cases detected have doubled in two months and reach around 20,000 daily. The asymptomatic move around 60%.
Not surprisingly, Spain has gone from 3.2 million PCR tests carried out until mid-June -5.1 million tests if rapid tests are added- to 5.3 million PCR tests -almost 8 million in total -.
On August 17, 58,945 PCR tests were performed in Spain. The Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, has repeatedly reiterated his wish that 50,000 could be reached. At least that goal is accomplished.
