The increase in social interactions after the end of Spain’s state of emergency, suspended on May 9, could hold back improving rates linked to the pandemic in the country.
In Barcelona, for example, over the past two weeks there has been a slight increase in infections, especially among the population aged 15-29.
Young people currently lead the local cumulative incidence ranking, with 153.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Next come the 30 to 49 year olds, with 134 cases per 100,000.
The latest national average published Thursday (27) is 125 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The only ones who are saved (literally) in this story are the over 80s, already fully vaccinated: 30 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
***
I am not surprised by this trend of increasing cases among young people, considering the many “botellones” or street parties in Barcelona in recent days.
To complete the Molotovian bololô, I live in a target city for tourists and exchanges such as the Erasmus program, which every year brings on average 50,000 European students to study or carry out supervised internships in Spain. This amount is higher than that received by any other country in the European community.
Here more and more images are circulating showing unmasked xovens and muy borrachos (drunkards) lining the beaches, parks and streets as if to celebrate the end of the apocalypse. Disturbing, if you compare it to the relatively spartan pandemic life of just a few weeks ago.
Greater contagion among young people does not usually translate into an increase in the number of hospitalizations. The problem, epidemiologists say, is that the rapid spread of the virus within this population can promote reinforcement of new variants, for example. In addition, the health system suffers from having to take care of pamonha (perdonad mi French) without consequence.
In a video recorded by a Spanish television channel in the streets of the Born district in the historic center of Barcelona, police officers strolling through a cheerful crowd warn here and there that “it is forbidden to drink alcohol on the road. public ”and that it is necessary to put on a mask. The atmosphere is no-tchum. More than 3,500 people were evicted from the center that night. One interviewee said: if people gather in the subway, then the streets can too, right?