A wave of respiratory infections has spread rapidly across Spain since the last weeks of 2023. This wave is caused by a combination of three different viral infections: COVID-19, influenza A, and RSV, a virus that can cause bronchiolitis. being called. It primarily affects children.
According to the latest report released on January 4 by the Carlos III University Health Research Institute, the infection rate of respiratory infections now stands at a total of 952.9 per 100,000 inhabitants at the national level, 78% higher than a month ago. It has increased.
In some regions this number is even higher. Castilla-La Mancha has 1,710 cases per 100,000 people, and Valencia has 1,501.
Hospitals in Spain are under huge pressure, with the number of admissions increasing by 60% in one week. In Madrid, La Paz University Hospital, which has a population of more than 500,000 people and is one of Spain’s largest hospitals by number of beds, has been forced to suspend operations to make room for new patients.
Emergency services are saturated by the avalanche of patients. Health officials are asking patients to avoid emergency rooms and instead go to primary care centers, which are facing a shortage of doctors after 15 years of spending cuts in the health care sector. Treatment is expected to take days or even weeks, so many patients become desperate and head straight to the emergency room.
The situation is particularly complicated by influenza, with cases increasing by 75 percent in the last week alone. According to forecasts, the peak of the flu season in Spain is expected to occur in the third week of January, as cold waves and Christmas gatherings continue until January 6, the Day of the Three Wizards. The same, of course, applies to the coronavirus.
Epidemiological forecasts estimate that at least 4,000 people will die by the end of February.
These viruses are dangerous to most of the population, but especially to children, people over 65, pregnant women, immunosuppressed people, or people who are susceptible to other illnesses. To this we must add those affected by the long coronavirus. According to research, this number is about 10 percent of people infected with the coronavirus and is likely to increase with each subsequent infection. In Spain, this would affect around 2 million people.
New coronavirus infections are on the rise around the world, rising by 52% in the last month, but could rise further due to lower reporting and the dismantling of surveillance systems, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO). is high.
WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeyer told reporters this equates to 850,000 new infections per day. The real number is probably higher. “You know, and you’ve seen it in many countries, that around the world there’s less coverage, fewer monitoring centers, fewer vaccination centers, and they’re being dismantled or closed as well,” he said. “Sho,” he said. .
This is the result of capitalist policies that prioritize profits over lives. Governments around the world are systematically trying to cover up the spread of the coronavirus and other respiratory viruses by insisting on not using masks, dismantling containment measures, and dismantling information and control systems. Anti-vaccine propaganda, strongly disseminated by the media, has led to a decline in population vaccinations not only against the coronavirus, but also against influenza and other diseases.
The spread of respiratory disease was predictable. Spain went through something similar last year, albeit less intensely. North America, China and Northern Europe have all been hit by waves of respiratory infections, with hospitals saturated.
The Sumar coalition, formed by the new government of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the pseudo-left, is mindful of the continuing danger posed by the virus and plans to invest billions of euros in a health system exhausted after 15 years of austerity measures. And the Stalinists are debating whether to introduce the most rudimentary health measures, such as wearing masks in medical facilities. Six months after officially declaring the coronavirus pandemic over, the country has adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards triple bloodemia.
Six regions had already made mask-wearing compulsory in the past few weeks, but on Tuesday the government finally mandated minimum measures, including wearing masks in health facilities. “We are talking about wearing a mask when you enter a health center and taking it off when you leave,” Health Minister Monica Garcia said. Cadena Cell Monday night radio. “I don’t think this is a drama. It’s a basic, easy measure of the first order.
This is the same Mr. Garcia who repeated the worst and most dangerous anti-science lie in December 2021 when he said masking was a “futile measure.”
PSOE-Sumar government’s latest proposal would allow workers to self-diagnose themselves and take unpaid sick leave without seeing a doctor, instead of contracting more doctors, nurses and other health workers The idea is to do so. Once again, workers are being left to their fate.
They are using the same criminal tactics as the previous PSOE/Podemos government (2019-2023), which systematically dismantled some of the most basic aspects of public health such as testing, contact tracing, and reporting of disease outbreaks. And it continues to pursue reckless policies.according to lancet According to calculations, these policies have already claimed 162,000 lives in excess in Spain, although official data still stands at more than 122,000.
Meanwhile, the government continues to spend billions of euros on the military in Ukraine and NATO’s war against Russia, while funneling billions of euros from European funds to major banks and corporations. This money could be used to fund vaccines, therapeutics and infrastructure upgrades to prevent airborne diseases.
The fight to end the pandemic is inseparable from the struggle of the working class against capitalism and its subordination of everything to the interests of big business. It is to the working class that principled scientists and epidemiologists must turn.
Across Europe, health workers are at the forefront of opposition to capitalist assault on public healthcare, as the ruling class privatizes, dismantles and fires thousands of employees. In Spain, they took part in large-scale strikes to improve working conditions and the medical care provided to patients. Last month, 55,000 nurses went on strike in Catalonia to protest low pay and precarious working conditions.
These strikes have received popular support and are similar to those in November 2022 when hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Madrid against the right-wing Popular Party (PP) regional government led by Isabel Ayuso. Tens of thousands of people took part in the protests.
Their struggles have been continually betrayed by the trade union bureaucracy. The trade union bureaucracy has refused to organize unified strike action, instead calling for strike action on different dates and regions. Union leaders are also calling for strikes to end as soon as they break out, and for agreements with local governments that do not raise wages below workers’ demands or improve public health conditions.
Workers need to join their international brothers and sisters. General safety committees must be formed in all schools, factories, warehouses, and other workplaces to engage in the struggle to protect the health and well-being of society.
The International Workers’ Federation of Class Committees (IWA-RFC), formed in 2021 with the aim of organizing a working class movement to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, will continue to lead this struggle and support all continues to fight for workplace safety. .