Coronavirus in Spain (7 Oct) – ‘low risk’ for first time in 15 months

The latest official figure released by the Spanish Health Ministry on Thursday 7 Oct for the number of people who have tested positive for Coronavirus since the start of the pandemic is now 4,971,310. This is an overall increase of 1,807 against the figure released on Wednesday, of which 792 have been registered in the past 24 hours.

Wednesday had seen an overall increase of 2,303 over Tuesday, of which 995 were registered in 24 hours. The peak of recorded infections for a 24-hour period during the pandemic in Spain was on 21 January, when 18,504 cases were registered.

The overall incidence rate across Spain has fallen two points to 48.92 per 100,000 inhabitants for the past 14 days – below the ‘low risk’ threshold of 50 for the first time in 15 months, since the end of July 2020. On Wednesday it was 50.96 and Tuesday 52.51. The region with the lowest incidence rate is Asturias at 15. It is at its highest in Cantabria at 79. See below for the incidence rate for each region.

There have now been 23,215 cases of Coronavirus detected in the past 14 days – out of the total 4,971,310. The figure for the past 7 days is 10,378.

There are currently 2,088 people hospitalised for Covid-19 in Spain (previously 2,235), representing a 1.71% occupation of hospital beds across Spain (1.83%). 551 are in intensive are (611), representing 6.02% occupation of intensive care units (ICUs) by Covid patients across Spain (6.67%).

The official figure for the total number of Coronavirus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic on Thursday 7 Oct is now 86,701 – an increase of 23 since Wednesday.

Most people here are just going about their lives and ignoring every restriction they can get away with. You have to wear masks inside of stores but it is not unusual to see the nose uncovered, basically rendering the masks useless. Most people don't wear them outdoors at all (it is no longer required as long as you can maintain a social distance) anymore and the incidence of busybody "Karen" behavior is practically nil. It's close to the end of beach season now but the distancing regulations that were enforced by foot patrols at the beginning of the summer were abandoned by the end of it. If you go to the Centro Salud, which is the local health clinic for the National Health System, or any of the hospitals you get your temperature checked at the entrance and you have to wear a mask inside.

Air travel is still a PITA. My wife has a mobility problem so we always pay extra to have seats near the front of the plane in case she has to use the bathroom. Our last flight we found out that the front bathrooms are now closed and everybody has to use the bathrooms in the rear of the plane, something they failed to mention on the airline's website. Everybody also has to keep masks on for the entire flight and if the stewardesses notice you have it pulled down they come over and tell you to pull it up over your nose. You also have to fill out Passenger Locator Forms each direction on your flight so they know where you are going and if you have been sick or exposed to someone who has. That doesn't apply for domestic flights.

Spain has Socialized medicine but only for Spanish citizens and people from EU countries that have reciprocity agreements. Everyone else uses private health insurance. When they started their vaccination program (around here the vaccine they use is AstraZeneca) it was for people in the National system but then they opened it to everyone with no charge to the people with private insurance. They don't force vaccines on children and all of the schools are back open. They have vaccine passports but as far as I can tell the only place you have to show them is at the airport. They also issue the passports to people who aren't vaccinated but have had the virus and recovered, treating them as if they are vaccinated.

This article is very helpful as I’m going to Spain soon — my first visit there. I’ve got several packages of the self test I’ll need to come home, and it is a bit stressful to worry about being negative within 72 hours before the flight home.

I often go to England, but these days it’s much more difficult, so Spain it is! After four years of Duolingo, I want to see how much my Spanish learning actually helps.

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