• Direct. Last minute about the coronavirus crisis
  • Coronavirus.Aragón exceeds 5,000 cases of coronavirus in the first week of August, after adding another 620 infections
  • Justice: New judicial conviction against the Government of Aragon for not providing sufficient protective equipment for health workers

The incidence of the coronavirus in Aragon has soared to the point of doubling, according to official data, both in the most affected countries on the globe and in the second most affected region on the continent. The latest reports suggest that, fortunately, the epidemic is beginning to stabilize in this autonomous community, but the high volume of transmission detected makes it necessary to consider whether its health system will continue to endure and if the return to normal life after the summer can be carried out as planned a few weeks ago, before the numbers multiplied.

During the proliferation of outbreaks and cases, which have intensified in the last three weeks, the Government of Aragon, which leads the PSOE, has received a third conviction, this time from a court in Zaragoza, for not providing medical personnel with individual protection (PPE).

Varapalos like that and the worrying figures have been peppered with controversy, with the regional president, Javier Lambán, in the forefront. He questioned the central government for its de-escalation plan, which it demanded more accelerated; It has confronted other communities, at the cost of "transparency" in the data, and health professionals and those in nursing homes, after declaring that, "now, those who introduce the virus are the workers."

"The exhaustion of our professionals has a limit," replied Paquita Morata , president of the Aragonese Association for Dependency, on July 30. It was not the first time that Lambán bothered a health group.

Three convictions

"Apart from not having PPE, the words of the president bothered us a lot," explains Leandro Catalán , president of the primary care medical unions in Aragon, an association whose complaint led to the three convictions, one for each province. The regional government has appealed the first two and plans to do the same with the third, published on July 29.

Those words of Lambán were pronounced on April 1, in the worst moments of the pandemic, after receiving a judicial order that demanded that his Government provide PPE to health workers: "I would suggest to the judges that they start making masks themselves, and maybe that way we could cover the hospitals and all the services sufficiently. " At the same time, he asked the union whistleblowers to "have a higher level of vision and dedicate themselves to pitch in and not put sticks in the wheel."

"It hurt us that Lambán, seeing what there was, said that," recalls Catalán. "And, just as he apologized to the judges, we are still waiting for him to apologize to the doctors and health personnel," he adds.

Once the problem of PID has been solved - although an appeal is pending, the recent proliferation of outbreaks has once again put primary care professionals to the limit, denounces this doctor.

"The Government of Aragon has been asked for some kind of measures, which does not overload the work of professionals. There are days when there are 90 sanitary acts by a doctor, to answer calls, to patients ... An outrage that it can suffocate health centers. "

Health requirements

Among the relief measures, the unions are asking for an auto-Covid point to carry out PCR, specific professionals to attend to patients in nursing homes that do not require hospitalization, awareness campaigns so that centers with problems that can wait do not collapse, and tests routines to practicing toilets.

At the moment, they have not received a response from the Government, says Catalan. Among their requests is not the one to expand staff, because they assume that, directly, "there is not." However, the wave of outbreaks has coincided not only with the holidays, but also with about 200 professionals on sick leave due to Covid-19.

"If this is not corrected or the curve changes, I don't know what will happen throughout this whole month of August", Catalan adventure, who says that "there are already 10 or 12 centers in Zaragoza that are very touched".

Given the figures, it is no wonder: the database of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), updated on August 5, analyzes the cumulative incidence of the virus in the last 14 days for a total of 405 regions European. The highest is Aragon, with 690.37.

The next region is French Guiana , in South America (413.84). The district of Arges, in Wallachia (Romania), is the third (246.78). If we compare it with the most affected countries in the world, Aragon continues to stand out. According to Health data, this community reaches the figure of 503.68, which is double the United States (237.1) and almost Brazil (274.2), the two nations with the most cases.

Latest data: Stabilization

"I believe that it is not a question of blaming others, some will also have health officials. I am not saying that 100%," Catalan laments. Although excessive relaxation has been observed in some social groups, he argues, it is no less true that the authorities "could have planned to carry out tests" to the seasonal workers before the outbreaks appeared - 50 days after the first major alert -, or have supervised whether the residences met the conditions.

The latest report from the Carlos III Health Institute, published this Friday, confirms the high transmission in Aragon, but also reasons for hope: "We could be on a plateau," says José Jonay Ojeda , spokesman for the Spanish Society of Public health. There is no clear decline, but there is a stabilization, given the tightening of prevention measures in recent weeks.

But formidable challenges remain. The first is, as Dr. Ojeda recalls, that "the system has a limit" and "requires a permanent effort from many people who have already been in March, April and May risking their own health." To which is added that, between sprouts and sprouts, we have already passed the equator of summer.

"If we do not have a sufficiently low level of transmission, school activity should not be resumed as we had prepared for September. And that should be planned," warns this expert. A challenge for all regions, but greater in the worst hit.

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Know more

  • Aragon
  • PSOE
  • Javier Lambán
  • U.S
  • Brazil
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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