All of Europe is struggling with rapidly increasing numbers of infections … all of Europe? No! One country is relatively relaxed about the fourth wave: Spain!
For comparison: the seven-day incidence in Germany is 250 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, in our eastern neighbors it is much worse (558 in the Czech Republic, 740 in Slovakia, 260 in Poland). Denmark and the Netherlands have incidences of 306 and 603 respectively. And in France, where President Macron is already talking about the “fifth wave”, it is 94.
The situation on the Iberian Peninsula is completely different: In Spain the infections are increasing slightly, but at the super low level of 41! The hospitalization rate is also low, the number of corona patients in the hospital is currently in the low four-digit range.
Similar to neighboring Portugal – also a country where a particularly large number of people have been vaccinated. Here, more than 86 percent of people are fully vaccinated, the seven-day incidence is 76.
As a reminder: At the beginning of the pandemic, Spain was considered one of THE hotspots par excellence, imposed a long, ultra-hard lockdown including curfews. Now it seems that the country has found its way out of the crisis – or almost.
Spain is proud of its high vaccination rate: almost 79 percent of the population are fully vaccinated.
Consequence: Many corona restrictions have been lifted, the ultra-hard lockdown including curfews, which was in place there for a long time, is long gone. There is no compulsory vaccination or test at the workplace.
The high price for this success: wearing a mask
But not all the rules. The price that the Spaniards pay for the low infection rate is very high: the distance and mask rules still apply in almost all regions – even at work! Exception: the Madrid region.
The streetscape is also characterized by mask wearers, although the risk of infection is low outdoors.
Violations in the workplace against the mask requirement, the distance requirement or the requirement to use partition walls threaten high fines – even if these are rarely imposed.