• Live Coronavirus in Spain today

Among colleagues by profession and when more than a year and a half have passed since that first wave of the pandemic, the epidemiologist Fernando Simón, director of the Center for Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES), has shown that during those first months " we kill flies with cannon shots. "

During his speech this Thursday at the Congress of the Spanish Epidemiology Society that is being held these days in the city of León, the visible face in the decision-making against Covid-19 has recognized that "

what we saw in the first wave and what was really happening had nothing to do with it

. "

The light for not continuing to beat the blind was made with the first seroprevalence study carried out by the Carlos III Health Institute and the Ministry of Health: the ENE-Covid.

Regarding the seroprevalence study, Simón has announced the possibility of a fifth edition "

with different characteristics because now we have the vaccinated population

."

"At first we were condemned to kill flies with cannon shots: we knew little, we knew that it was very serious, but we did not know how serious. We had little information about the severity of the disease, the one that came from China was not comparable to that observed in our environment. There were doubts about the transmission mechanisms, about who was transmitting, about the diagnosis. So we killed flies with cannon shots and there was no alternative, not here or anywhere. The result was a state of alarm. It is true that

we had to take a drastic action so that our health system does not go to hell

, but if we had had the information that we had later, we would have been able to articulate a more targeted action, "he said.

In the analysis of the five waves identified so far in the pandemic, Simón has clarified that it has gone

from detecting 10% of Covid cases to 80%

, with an average age of 65 years in the first wave to 27 in the fifth.

In his speech, at the table

Evolution of the management of the covid-19 pandemic.

What was expected and what happened

, Simón has compared data from the first wave with the fifth.

Thus, while the mean age of those hospitalized in the first wave was 70 years, in the second it was 55 and 60 and in the fifth, less than 49. Ages that have also been extrapolated to those admitted to the ICU.

And about the deceased, Simón has said that it is "the same in all waves, because

practically all the fatalities of Covid are over 80 years old

" although, he has acknowledged, "they also die young"

Begin to "normalize" the disease

Regarding children under 12 years of age who are not vaccinated "nor will they be for the moment", Simón has reported that in the fifth wave, those hospitalized in ICU in this age group represent 0.3 per thousand and the deceased 0.003 per thousand. For this reason, he stressed that "the origin group of the cases from now on is going to be a group in which the impact of the epidemic is very low" which makes us reflect on what measures must be implemented because the situation "

does not have nothing to do with what we saw before

"and we must begin to" normalize "this disease.

Spain has been out of step with the rest of the European countries, in the end we have had a very similar global incidence of the epidemic in the large EU countries, Great Britain has had more and Germany, less. However, the expert recognizes the difficulty of comparing the incidence between countries because there are no similar studies to compare. As an example, he has put the accounting of deaths from coronavirus, "

in Spain we have made an effort in this regard

", but has clarified that there are some countries that only counted those who went to the hospital and died from coronavirus.

In Simón's opinion, another lesson from this pandemic is that "from the first to the fifth wave, we realized that we needed a much better surveillance strategy and that an early response plan was needed to react in case of new waves" . "And we find measures to reduce infections that

had a significant socioeconomic impact and any measure with that impact becomes a

high-level

political tool

," he added.

Simon has also referred to vaccination.

"We are finishing vaccinating the youngest. Those from 20 to 29 have vaccination coverage of 67 percent and those from 12 to 19, about 50 percent with a complete schedule and more than 75 percent with a single dose. And with an advantage,

the effectiveness is greater in the youngest,

"he reported.

In Simón's opinion, in order to achieve the herd's immunity threshold, "we can vaccinate the younger ones

a little less than the older ones, and obtain the same result

."

His presentation concluded by insisting on the need to create a public health agency - provided for in the General Law of Public Health ten years ago, as the audience recalled - "

with weight, solid that coordinates actions in times of crisis

and outside In those context of crisis, there is a lot of work for that agency. "

Simón concluded his presentation with a call for coordination because "the world is not a selection of countries, the world is one and health must include all sectors, all administrative levels and all those responsible at the highest political level. ".

"And if we don't understand that

everyone has to work with everyone

, in the next pandemic we will improve but not as much as we could."

He has also insisted on the need to invest to provide a rapid response when needed, in addition to "the digital development of the national health system must include the three partners:

hospital care, primary care and public health,

" he reiterated.

Before giving the conference, Simón has predicted that he does not see a great pandemic wave in Spain likely and that little by little everything will return to normal.

"

There may be a sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth wave but they will not be like the previous ones,

" Simón said in an optimistic message regarding the evolution of the pandemic and the vaccination campaign.

The intervention of the epidemiologist has generated a lot of expectation, Simón had not appeared in a public act for two months.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Science and Health

  • Fernando Simon

  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

Coronavirus The 'Simpson paradox' in Israel: why are the majority of those hospitalized by Covid vaccinated?

Covid-19Coronavirus Spain live |

'Saw teeth' in the data of the Autonomous Communities: this is how the fifth wave evolves

Weakening of T cells, possible origin of the inflammatory syndrome sequela of Covid-19 in children

See links of interest

  • Last News

  • Work calendar

  • Home THE WORLD TODAY

  • Master Investigation Journalism

  • Kosovo - Spain, live