Spain is experiencing a great flu epidemic right now, with a large number of infections expected to arrive to its maximum peak at Christmas itself. The problem is that at the moment the ascending phase does not stop increasing, causing the flu curve to have an insane growth, being able to affirm that we are facing a historic epidemic and that the truth reminds us a lot of the wave we experienced during covid. Although above all it has targeted some communities.
A localized anomaly. As the Ministry of Health points out, this epidemic does not stop increasing in our country on a national scale, but above all it has hit the most populated communities in our entire geography.
Today, flu cases are estimated in an incident of 170 cases per 100,000 inhabitants nationwide. But some autonomous communities are seeing a greater impact with historic rates, as is the case, for example, in Catalonia or Madrid. Something that strains health services and forces measures to be taken, such as need to wear a mask in certain locations.
An unprecedented epidemic. This is the case of Catalonia, where the graphs already point to a flu epidemic that is the worst in the last 15 years, with a graph that can undoubtedly be scary due to how sharp its escalation is. In this way, this clashes between the local situation in the autonomous community and the national paradigm where the ceiling has not yet been reached.
The data published by the Catalan epidemiological service confirms a statistical anomaly in the week of December 1 to 7, since they suggest that The barrier of 300 diagnoses has been broken for every 100,000 inhabitants in primary care, with a weekly increase of more than 100%.
It is something so intense that some experts they point because until the end of the year very intense days are expected in Primary Care and ‘wild’ guards in the Emergency Room. But some of them already point out that “and“This flu curve is insane.”
The same in Madrid. Another quite worrying situation where cases reach 275 per 100,000 inhabitants, making it much higher than what has been seen in previous seasons, which also marks an unprecedented fact and which already forces vaccination campaigns to be intensified.
‘Zoom out’ from Spain. If one looks up from the Catalan and Madrid map and looks at the consolidated data from the Ministry of Health and the ISCIII for all of Spainthe film changes genre. It is not a disaster movie, but a thriller that is picking up pace.
At the national level, this epidemic has been characterized by a significant advance in the epidemic wave, since at the beginning of December there was already an infection rate of 70-80 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. But despite this fact, national surveillance reports continue to increase to an overall ‘low’ or ‘moderate’ intensity.
The measures that have been taken. At the national level, the autonomous communities managed to reach an almost historic agreement: recommending the use of masks in health centers. But Catalonia, with a historic epidemic, has had to take other measures such as is wearing the mask mandatory (something that also Murcia has approved) in health centers. Although, it is ruled out in other areas such as public transport.
Primary care. One of the most affected by this epidemic, which has numbers of such magnitude from counting the cases at the primary care level. This contrasts with the data used by national surveillance organizations, which weight hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths much more. Something that is not happening critically, waiting for the peak of the epidemic to arrive.
Images | Towfiqu barbhuiya
In Xataka | Spain has spent years vaccinating only the elderly during flu seasons. Now he has decided to change it
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings