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Why Catalonia’s bars and restaurants are to remain closed for another ten days

Regional authorities have extended the closure of restaurants, bars and shopping centres across all of the Catalonia region for at least another ten days.

Published: 13 November 2020 14:32 CET
Why Catalonia’s bars and restaurants are to remain closed for another ten days
Photo: AFP

“We know that these are very difficult and complicated measures, that we are asking for very hard sacrifices from sectors of our economy and society but from the point view of health … we need these 10 days,” explained Josep Maria Argimon, Catalonia’s public health secretary, announcing the extension on Thursday.

He said that the measures could begin to be lifted from November 23rd with the reopening of open air table service on terrazas.

The region has also closed its borders and each weekend confines residents to their own municipality in a bid to stop people moving around and spreading the virus.

Authorities have taken the decision to prolong strict measures even though infection rates in the northeastern region are improving.

 “We’re on the right track, the trend is good but not good enough, as we are at the peak of healthcare pressure and we need to flatten that curve as well,” added Alba Vergés, the Catalan regional health minister.

Despite the improvement in infection rates all of the healthcare zones of the region bar one still fall in the high risk of outbreak category.


Map from https://dadescovid.cat/

But the data did seem to show that the infection rate across Catalonia was stabilizing.

The region’s average 14-day cumulative number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants dropped from 742.42 on November 6th to 589.08 on November 12th, a significant decrease showing that the strict measures imposed on Catalans is proving effective.

But still the figure is above the national average and puts the region above the 500 cases per 100,000 threshold that categorises a region as “extreme risk”.

The infection rate improvement is illustrated in this graph:


Data from Spain's Health Ministry.

However, it is the pressure on the hospitals that authorities are keeping a close eye on.

There are currently 585 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, taking up 44 percent of all ICU beds, a figure that according to Vergés is far above the number that can be handled by the Catalan healthcare system without impacting the quality of care for non-coronavirus patients.

 

The positivity rate – the figure that shows the proportion of coronavirus tests that come back positive – is also improving for Catalonia and now stands at 11.7 percent compared to the 12.67 percent a week ago.


Data from Spain's Health Ministry.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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