A Christmas party in Málaga where over 100 medical staff caught Covid, depleting ICU-worker numbers, has put a dampener on Christmas celebrations in Granada.

What happened to the staff in Hospital Carlos Haya has made many individuals within the health sector consider that large celebratory gatherings of medical staff is rather like putting all your eggs in one basket.

As a result the Junta de Andalucía has hired an extra 30 medical workers to cover the hole left by infected staff going into quarantine at a time when contagion figures are climbing and more pressure is being felt in hospitals across the land.

Workers in the sector cancelled their Christmas parties both out of a sense of personal responsibility and because hospital directors have implored them to reconsider their plans – ‘better safe than sorry’ is the general belief held by most.

Of course, it is not only a case of staff in hospitals but also those manning medical centres across the province.

It doesn’t mean that these ‘office parties’ will disappear completely, but that the large ones most certainly will, which, whilst it might be reassuring for patients and the general public, is a sore blow to the hostelry sector, which for the first time in two years is counting on Christmas parties in restaurants and salas de fiestas (cotillones) to replenish badly undernourished cash registers.

(News: Granada, Andalucia)