Fernando Simón: "I like to be irreverent, ugly jokes, and now I have to be careful"

• Salud Fernando Simón and his most unknown side: a valued climber

In the toughest days of the pandemic, daily appearances on television to report data and news showed politicians with the face of almost not knowing what to say. Many passed before the cameras, but the one who captured all eyes to the point of having

was Fernando Simón (58). An epidemiologist, he was born in Zaragoza in 1963. Son of the psychiatrist Antonio Simón and María Luz Soria, he is the second of six siblings. He is

As director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES) he knew that "at some point he would have to explain things to professionals, colleagues and also to the population" and he already had the experience of what happened with Ebola.

"Then there was a lot of noise, but

nothing to do," he says.

Then there were already those who began to know about him.

But what is now has exceeded all expectations.

, it is impressive. Even outside of Spain. It catches my attention. I appreciate it but

and I like my private life very much," he confesses to LOC.

Hold the downpour as best you can, knowing that you have had a great responsibility that has meant sacrifices. Like anyone, Simon had his life. "But now I have to be careful with what I say and do, with how I move, and

, tell nonsense, like everyone else. But it is what I have had to live, and I imagine that in a few months,

".

That care you have to take comes from the fact that "each thing I say is interpreted in a thousand different ways and normally none of the thousand is true. And because people sometimes assume things that I can say as things that are, when many times They can be jokes and thanks, or simply colloquial phrases that are said with friends. If there is someone around who hears them, misinterpretations can be generated. I do not feel bad, because

Because,

the truth is that

.

Partly because of its home-like appearance.

And possibly because in his appearances he sometimes took iron out of the tremendous situation of the pandemic as if he had a kind of close trust with the citizens.

"People are very nice to me, but you also think twice about going out on the street

because you can't do the things you want. Every two by three

If I go alone, I'll take it, but If I go out with my children, my wife or a friend, why do they have to put up with being stopped every twenty meters?

, you have to accept it and that's it, "he says.

Even Juan Espadas, the

and leader of the PSOE in Andalusia, asked him to take a photo with him when Simón passed through the Andalusian capital to receive the 11th Emilio Castelar Award for the defense of freedoms and the progress of peoples, a award granted by the Progressive Association of Spain and which was presented at the Real Alcázar in Seville last week.

It was Salvador Illa, former Minister of Health, who presented him with the award before an audience that included Simón's wife, María Romay, and Illa's own, Marta Estruch.

Illa said of Simón that he is "a public servant, a person with a true vocation,

, a great communicator, a team man, with a great sense of justice, a nonconformist and a great epidemiologist. And

."

Fernando Simon.

For his part, Simón, who has worked throughout his life at CCAES with

called Illa "my minister" and said that the awards gave them "strength to try to win a battle in which we believed we did not have weapons and in the end we had a great vaccine. "

At the end of the act, everyone wanted the photo with him. T-shirts, mugs, badges, memes, dolls with their faces ... and tattoos have been seen. "Yes, everywhere, they even

, I was impressed," he laughs.

Almost two years of struggle of which he is not entirely satisfied. "In public health there is always more to do and you could always have done things differently. We have had many deaths, proportionally no more than other countries, but I do not care, we have had many deaths, many cases, overcrowded ICUs , number of people who have suffered a lot ... But you know that

. Once we know what this coronavirus is, ways are discovered so that in the next pandemic that the problem is minor ".

Some say that pandemics happen every thirty years. But "it is difficult to predict. We have been talking for a long time about the next great flu pandemic, which occurs every thirty years, but there may be three in ten years and then you go seventy without any. You

. What I do know is we

as having a better relationship between the different legs of the health system.. hospital, primary care and public health with all sectors with which health is related, which are all.

But to achieve "healthier humans", you have to go little by little.

"When the next pandemic arrives, the perception of risk of threat of crisis will probably be similar to what we have experienced, even if the problem is half as big.

because that would make professionals us accommodate ".

The depleted toilets and the people shot in the streets.

In fact, it seems that there is no covid19 anymore.

"Spain has shown that it is a country with an enormously supportive population. Almost all of us have been vaccinated and we already have very few susceptible. The problem is not that people go out and interact,

" .

But people have gone from 0 to 100. "That is the problem. I hope it does not take its toll. During these almost two years

There are population groups that are tired and I understand that the people feel like going out, but

so we can see the impact of every step we take. "

If Fernando Simón has been able to resist all this time with his five senses in the pandemic, it has been largely thanks to his

.

"It has been the one that has kept me there.

, if not, I would not have held on."

And not another word about her.

He prefers to keep it out of the way.

Behind the media face that we see every day there is a man "very broad in everything. For example, I like to eat everything, especially the

." Although he also claims to read everything, he likes very much "novels that have a bit of action, and good essays." He usually

since he was a child, he likes motorcycles, and throughout his life he has practiced various sports since he was little "but for about fifteen years I have practiced climbing, which has me hooked," he says.

His profession led him to live in different countries in Latin America, Europe and Africa.

but

. All the places have very good things and unfortunately all have some bad things."

Your project for when the pandemic ends?

María Romay, the favorite of the town festivals

Drop down

EU

The sudden popularity of Fernando Simón has also affected his family and especially his wife,

(55),

specialized in the field of epidemiology and public health. Simón's daily appearances triggered searches for the family, especially since he appeared on Jesús Calleja's program and told some anecdotes. For example, that she met María at the festivities in her town and that both she and her three children -Guille (24), María Josefa (22) and Marcos (20) - laugh at her fame.

María comes from a well-known Galician family.

His maternal grandfather,

, a lawyer and military man, was General Mola's chief of staff and leader of a Falangist militia.

His paternal family also has a military tradition.

His father, Carlos Romay, was a

and one of his uncles, Ignacio, is a general.

In the family there is another illustrious name, that of

, Minister of Health with José María Aznar.

The

created a special bond with his brothers and with his mother,

, to whom María dedicated her doctoral thesis.

María grew up in the Estrella neighborhood of Madrid and studied journalism at the Complutense, although she never worked, except for a brief internship at

.

She directed her steps towards cooperation and development planning in several countries in Africa and Latin America before finally arriving with her husband and three children in Madrid.

An expert in tropical diseases, since 2007 she has worked at the Carlos III Health Institute, where she has developed a prestigious career.

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