Madrid says yes. Public Health experts from the ministry do not. And in that yes, but the community where the virus has been primed like in no other territory does not remain in the de-escalation: it has 66,005 infected, up to 3,574 serious patients have had to be intubated in their critical units and accumulates 14,018 deaths; This Friday was the second region with the highest number of deaths, 30, behind Catalonia and registered a third of new admissions in the ICU, 10 of 29. On Monday it will enter what has been called phase 0.5: reopening of commercial activity without an appointment and with capacity limitations, but without terraces or social or family gatherings.
Descaling guide: see what phase your province is in and what activities are allowed
–The reason? According to official requirements, the region meets criteria such as the capacity in the number of beds in hospitalizations and ICUs and has made “significant progress” during the last week, as Fernando Simón, director of the Center for Alert and Emergency Control, has pointed out. Sanitary. However, it still does not meet the point of improvement that was asked of it last week. “The only one,” acknowledged the community itself in an argument for the de-escalation that leaked on Thursday night, which the ministry required to change phase: the development of the plan to detect and follow possible cases of covid-19 and its contacts.
This is how Simón explained it: “All the power that existed in the healthcare capacity of hospitals must be transferred to the primary care and public health services, that is not done in a few days, it is necessary to allow sufficient time for it to settle ” In addition, he added, “we must take into account where the community started, which had an onset of the explosive pandemic, and although the evolution is very favorable, it is one of the ones that still reports the most cases every day.” This Friday is the third, in absolute numbers, behind Catalonia (151) and Castilla y León (99), with 49 cases.
The system that allows this virus to be traced exists, it arrived at the health centers last Sunday night, but still this Friday it had not been equipped with enough resources to run it. Despite the fact that the regional government assures that it has already happened and that “the extension of the contracts for primary care and Summa has been launched,” the professionals of these centers affirm that this is not the case.
From Summa 112 they explain that they have had two rounds of hiring: “One on March 6, when there were already 68 losses of comrades, either by covid-19 or not. Another on April 3, with 120 hires, so there were already 500 professionals between casualties and isolated. And this always according to your data [los de la Consejería de Sanidad], it is almost impossible to know figures, they do not give them ”. After that date, this source affirms, no more data: “And we do not really know what new hires were, they did not give us that data. Therefore, we cannot know for sure what is happening. “
In addition, they warn from this service that it carries the primary care emergency services (SUAP), those centers have been closed since March 22. There are no emergencies at night, holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. That weekend a reorganization of primary care was carried out to equip Ifema with professionals. And it has not been reversed: around 70 doctor’s offices are still closed during the week, according to information provided daily by the community itself.
Night emergencies and weekends of primary care have been closed since March 22
The 648 primary contracts announced by the Health Minister Enrique Ruiz Escudero last week did not finish arriving either. Last-year residents of Family Medicine still don’t know anything about their future and their residency ends on May 26; the last year of Preventive Medicine and Public Health have not yet joined the team that has to start the procedure. And none of the doctors or nurses that this newspaper has contacted know who they are, where they are, and when the trackers will arrive.
Antonio Cabrera, family doctor at the Daroca health center, affirms that “human reinforcements” have not reached “almost any” center. As for the PCRs, which the regional government assures that they are doing around 11,000 a day and have the capacity to reach 15,000, Cabrera says “that they have arrived, but it does not seem that they are in sufficient numbers for the forecasts and not all of them. quality. Some clinics have been limited to 20 a day. “
With this situation, the experts in Public Health of the ministry understand that it takes “a few more days” for the protocol to settle, as Simón has specified, which has also hinted at the high mobility of Madrid: “One of the points of strongest connection in Spain ”.
Furthermore, according to other government sources, “Madrid is the autonomous community with the highest population density in the entire country.[ithas82984inhabitantspersquarekilometer)andwherethecapitalstandsoutwith541847inhabitantspersquarekilometerThisfavorsahighrateofcontactbetweenpeoplewiththeconsequentprobabilityoftransmission”[tiene82984habitantesporkilómetrocuadrado)ydondesobresalelacapitalcon541847habitantesporkilómetrocuadradoEllofavoreceunaelevadatasadecontactoentrepersonasconlaconsiguienteprobabilidaddetransmisión”
However, in the face of any other argument, government sources insist that the key lies in strengthening diagnostic capacity and its early detection system in primary care, and this “has only just begun” to take place “. “From prudence, verifiable facts through the data are necessary and not only promises of increased capacity.”
To this, they add that it must be remembered that primary school “is the level of care that suffered the most cuts during the crisis” and that this de-escalation process, “very complex”, requires high coordination of its teams. And Madrid “has just relieved its head of Public Health, which will require the new team to settle and assume the situation.”
Information about the coronavirus
– Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic
– This is how the coronavirus curve evolves in Spain and in each autonomy
– Questions and answers about coronavirus
– Guide to action against the disease
– In case of symptoms, these are the phones that have been enabled in each community
– Click here to subscribe to the daily newsletter on the pandemic
–
In EL PAÍS, dozens of journalists work to bring you the most rigorous information and fulfill your public service mission. If you want to support our journalism and enjoy unlimited access, you can do it here for € 1 the first month and € 10 the following month, with no commitment to stay.
Subscribe-
