NIn November, Spain was celebrated as a European role model in the fight against the pandemic. In view of the high vaccination rate, people in Madrid thought they were almost immune. But then Omikron broke all dams and is now accelerating plans for a change of strategy; three percent of all Spaniards were infected in the past two weeks alone, the seven-day incidence is just under 1500. But as soon as Omikron has waned, Covid could only be monitored like a flu wave in the future. Spanish professionals believe it is wasteful to continue close surveillance all the time while the disease severity and restrictions decrease.
The system has to be “adapted to the changing disease so as not to bring the rest to collapse,” says the spokesman for the Spanish Society for Public Health, Ildefonso Hernández. This could be done with a sentinel network, as it has been used successfully in Spain for the flu for more than twenty years. Selected health centers, medical practices and clinics across the country report the relevant data, which is then extrapolated.
Monitor overwhelmed healthcare
This could also happen with the corona virus instead of full monitoring. A system that is based on random samples would take the strain off the overwhelmed healthcare system and laboratories. Because the corona infections, which are becoming increasingly mild, tie up too many resources in the opinion of Spanish experts, which particularly affects other, more seriously ill patients who cannot be treated properly.
“The situation is no longer the same as it was a year ago. We are more likely to be moving towards an endemic disease. We have to react to this situation with new instruments, ”said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in an interview. There is still no schedule for a changeover that would also have to be coordinated with the European partners. Thanks to Omikron, complete surveillance in Spain has long since collapsed. Elsewhere, too, one seems to have surrendered to reality.
The follow-up has practically been abandoned, and even close contacts are no longer tested if they do not show symptoms. In Aragon, where the highest incidences are registered, PCR tests are only available for the elderly and pregnant women. The rapid tests are often sold out in pharmacies. They cost up to nine euros there. There is no cheaper offer in supermarkets. In the autumn, Spanish middlemen had sold a large part of their supplies to Germany and other countries because they no longer saw any need due to the high vaccination rate in Spain. Now the government wants to intervene and limit the sales price of antigen tests.
Many health centers, the first port of call for most patients, have been hopelessly overburdened for weeks. Medical staff warns of a “collapse”. But apart from the reintroduction of the obligation to wear a mask outdoors, there were easing in Spain. Quarantine for infected people without symptoms reduced from ten to seven days. In the schools, where face-to-face lessons have been running again since Monday, regular tests are dispensed with. Only when more than five students are infected in a class does the rest of the class have to be quarantined.
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