In Catalonia, history is repeating itself for the fifth time since spring 2020: after an explosion in the number of Covid cases in the first three weeks of July, hospitals are once again facing a critical situation. 2,208 Covid patients are hospitalized, of which 558 are in intensive care (ICU), i.e. 40% of ICU patients, a figure that Catalonia has not seen since February. “We had once again to reorganize the whole hospital” confirms Pierre Malchair, emergency director of the Bellvitge hospital in Barcelona. “As elsewhere, unfortunately, we canceled the surgery and all non-urgent appointments, except for oncological surgery. We also opened other beds: today we have 240 patients with Covid. ‘hospital”. While the most cautious specialists predicted a quiet summer in Catalonia, the region was taken aback by the Delta variant (90% of new cases) which spread at an unprecedented speed especially among the youngest, including vaccination was only open at the beginning of July. “There was a great deal of social interaction starting at the end of May, with year-end student trips, parties and the return of tourists,” Dr. Josep Maria Argimon explained in El Pais, Catalan Minister of Health. “I am making my own criticism: we thought we could go back to a little more normal life. Unfortunately, the virus is going much faster than us.”
In Catalonia, hospitals overwhelmed by the Delta variant
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The vacations of health professionals, exhausted after 18 months of the pandemic, are now threatened in some hospitals. Even if the emergency physician Pierre Malchair wants to avoid it at all costs: “our caregivers need to breathe. What we are putting in place at my place is the possibility of working overtime with double pay.”
“In hospitals, the trend is not good” confirms data analyst Gerard Gimenez, who observes the curves every day. “But we can hope for an improvement within 10 days: the number of cases has been decreasing in Catalonia for a week and the fall is spectacular among the youngest, even if we had had exceptionally high incidence rates”. The fifth wave is slowing down and the peak of contagion has been passed thanks to restrictions that will remain in force throughout the summer: the curfew between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. and the ban on meeting more than 10 people.
The effect of vaccination
Vaccination has, however, drastically reduced mortality. “For an equal number of hospitalized patients, we have 10 times fewer Covid deaths than last February” rejoices Gerard Gimenez. In Spain, the vaccination campaign is running successfully: anti-vaccines are in the minority and the vaccination rate among those over 50 is 90% and even 100% among over 70 and the nursing staff. “The Spaniards have confidence in their public health system and in the vaccine” confirms Doctor Octavio Salmeron. At the Montjuic center in Barcelona, Alex, 19, is relieved after receiving the first dose: “I really wanted to because I have a family, I have grandparents and I care about them . The last wave showed young people that we could also suffer from Covid and therefore all my friends want to be vaccinated “. Despite a situation which therefore remains critical in hospitals, the change in trend that is also observed in the rest of Spain is undoubtedly good news for Occitania. “The epidemic resumed in Barcelona then the virus spread in Catalonia and then crossed the border” analyzes Gerard Gimenez. “People who live in the Pyrénées-Orientales can have hope. If it is confirmed that they are two weeks behind us, then France will follow the same dynamic as us.”
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