Contagion has risen so sharply that the decision was taken to reduce the self-isolation period to a week down from ten days.
This decision was unanimously reached between the regional governments and the central one, through their respective health ministries.
The seven-day quarantine begins from when symptoms first appear, or from the day of receiving a positive Covid-test result.
It concludes on the 7th day only if symptoms no longer persist otherwise you go the full 10 days.
This comes after half a million people in Spain gave positive test results in the last ten days and have since been self-isolating at home.
The decision is most likely political rather than for strictly medical reasons because although the number of hospital cases is not causing damage to the public-health system, the number of people remaining home is causing problems as far as work goes; thus the economy. In fact, this decision was made without consulting the Ponencia de Alertas y Planes de Preparación y Respuesta, which is the body that decides when health criteria can be changed.
The decision in Spain was also influenced by the fact that the United Kingdom had already reduced quarantine down to a week if a patient gives a negative reading on two consecutive days whilst in isolation. In the States the period is even shorter; five days, if the person shows no symptoms
The new Covid figures finally arrived this afternoon – until then the Junta’s webpage where it is published was “cannot be found” on search engines. For this reason we are going to publish the latest one, both for 14-days and 7-days figure. However, this time we have only included the municipalities on the Costa Tropical and in the Alpujarra Granadina. If somebody outside that area but within Granada wants to their town’s figure, let us know.
Editorial comment: perhaps it is now time to remove all restrictions and let Omicron spread and thus achieve herd immunity because more than 90% of the population over 12 has received both jabs – many the third one, too.
As for those that haven’t, it is, in the vast majority of cases, because they don’t want to – that, quite frankly, is their problem. We cannot continue to punish the economy. As long as the public-health system is not in danger of collapse, then let it spread.
| Town/Village |
Inhabitants |
Cases 14 days |
Per 100k 14 days |
Cases 7 days |
Per 100k 14 days |
| Granada |
919,168 |
8,592 |
934.8 |
5,246 |
570.7 |
| Albondón |
712 |
8 |
1,123.6 |
8 |
1,123.6 |
| Albuñol |
7,353 |
20 |
272.0 |
11 |
149.6 |
| Almegíjar |
337 |
4 |
1,186.9 |
3 |
890.2 |
| Almuñécar |
25,927 |
302 |
1,164.8 |
159 |
613.3 |
| Alpujarra de la Sierra |
969 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Bérchules |
712 |
26 |
3,651.7 |
5 |
702.2 |
| Bubión |
298 |
2 |
671.1 |
2 |
671.1 |
| Busquístar |
279 |
3 |
1,075.3 |
1 |
358.4 |
| Cádiar |
1,465 |
3 |
204.8 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Cáñar |
377 |
2 |
530.5 |
2 |
530.5 |
| Capileira |
563 |
15 |
2,664.3 |
11 |
1,953.8 |
| Carataunas |
201 |
2 |
995.0 |
1 |
497.5 |
| Cástaras |
235 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Guájares (Los) |
1,053 |
2 |
189.9 |
1 |
95.0 |
| Gualchos |
5,190 |
28 |
539.5 |
21 |
404.6 |
| Ítrabo |
991 |
2 |
201,8 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Jete |
927 |
7 |
755.1 |
5 |
539.4 |
| Juviles |
135 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Lanjarón |
3,530 |
12 |
339.9 |
6 |
170.0 |
| Lentegí |
333 |
1 |
300.3 |
1 |
300.3 |
| Lobras |
133 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Lújar |
483 |
1 |
207.0 |
1 |
207.0 |
| Molvízar |
2,772 |
10 |
360.8 |
5 |
180.4 |
| Motril |
58,460 |
432 |
739.0 |
226 |
386.6 |
| Murtas |
455 |
1 |
219.8 |
1 |
219.8 |
| Nevada |
1,072 |
7 |
653.0 |
1 |
93.3 |
| Órgiva |
5,784 |
92 |
1,590.6 |
25 |
432.2 |
| Otívar |
1,011 |
2 |
197.8 |
1 |
98.9 |
| Pampaneira |
317 |
2 |
630.9 |
2 |
630.9 |
| Polopos |
1,722 |
5 |
290.4 |
2 |
116.1 |
| Pórtugos |
368 |
2 |
543.5 |
2 |
543.5 |
| Rubite |
382 |
4 |
1,047.1 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Salobreña |
12,513 |
118 |
943.0 |
58 |
463.5 |
| Soportújar |
264 |
5 |
1,893.9 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Sorvilán |
527 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Taha (La) |
670 |
8 |
1,194.0 |
8 |
1,194.0 |
| Torrenueva Costa |
2,796 |
15 |
536.5 |
7 |
250.4 |
| Torvizcón |
625 |
2 |
320.0 |
1 |
160.0 |
| Trevélez |
736 |
2 |
271.7 |
1 |
135.9 |
| Turón |
232 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Ugíjar |
2,517 |
12 |
476.8 |
7 |
278.1 |
| Válor |
677 |
4 |
590.8 |
4 |
590.8 |
| Vélez de Benaudalla |
2,890 |
21 |
726.6 |
11 |
380.6 |
(News: Costa Tropical/Alpujarra, Granada, Andalucia)
Darren: thanks for you input, 😉 and we can be sure after all our exchanges that things are a little more clear. Tomorrow I will be publishing the contagion rate, as usual on a Tuesday, but today’s figures already show that Almuñécar, Salobreña and Motril are all over 1,000 per 100,000. Let’s hope it peaks out by mid month when the Christmas contagions have passed.
You’re probably right about the government doing something…there still needs enough hands on deck to work the country. Same old viral vs. economic disaster but with a new turbo-virus thrown in to keep things interesting.
Not sure what the government can do about it. I don’t think that shortening the quarantine period further will be it, because shortening it to the existing is already taking a big chance. If you shorten it more, then you’re just exporting your problems to next month. Possibly handing out testing kits like confetti and getting back the day you’re clear might do it as a max effectiveness/min risk option; but that’d be expensive. Or just forgetting about quarantine totally seeing as this version is much more catchable and seemingly less dangerous.
I only posted to whinge about the use of “herd immunity”. Didn’t mean it to turn into a slapfight. Cheers! *raises glass in your general direction*
Darren: what I am saying boils down to this: soon, governments will further reduce quarantining, in my personal opinion, not because medical experts say it’s OK, but because if they don’t they will crash the economy.
Therefore, the only red line for governments is hospital occupation; if spreading Omicron contagion puts too much strain on them, they will shut things down but as long as hospitals can cope, governments will try and keep people in circulation and working.
That’s it; that’s what I am saying and as I have taken great pains to point out, it is my personal opinion and not the stance of the Seaside Gazette as a news platform.
Does what I have expressed above mean that you cannot or should not self isolate? No.
Does it mean that if you do not self isolate when you know you have the virus, it is OK? No.
Does it mean that Omicron is not fatal or life threating? No.
It simply means that, in my opinion, economic considerations will end up imposing themselves on medical ones.
Oh right. So asymptomatic means you don’t know you have covid. That’s different…it looked like you were implying that asymptomatic equals safe which is of course not the case. It’s important to spell things out because there’s so much guff on the subject in the media.
As for quarantine length, it should be until you are no longer shedding virus. Otherwise, you might as well not bother quarantining at all. If I cop a dose, I’m staying in until I test negative; however long that might be.
Darren: Yes, of course you can, unwittingly if you are unaware that you have Covid. We’re going around in circles I fear.
My personal stance is that with Omicron you will crash the economy if those infected quarantine for week or more.
Therefore, there comes a point (in my opinion) with such a highly viral variant (Omicron) that staying at home for a week instead of attending your place of work will bring society to a standstill. You will see that governments, no matter how many cases there are a day, will not restrict business hours.
The Junta de Andalucía is a case in point. yes, obligatory mask use, yes, social distancing, yes, obligatory Covid certificate use, but that is as far as they are prepared to go, as long as hospitals do not become saturated.
Am I encouraging people to knowling go out and infect others? No. I am pointing out that we are fast approaching the tipping point. The most clear indication of this is that national governments are reducing quarantine from 10 days to seven, despite medical evidence showing that 10 days is needed.
Derek: I was expressing my personal opinion (editorial comment), which is not the gist of the article. The content of the article is the factual news; not my personal observations. 😉
Martin
If I understand correctly you are saying people should only quarantine if they have symptoms? Also that the virus can only be transmitted by people with symptoms?
More quibbling incoming….
You can still spread the virus if you’re asymptomatic. And the people you spread it to may well not be as lucky as you are. If you test positive, you should stay out of the way until you don’t test positive. How ill (or not) you personally feel is immaterial…the question is are you capable of infecting others?
Darren: Yes, I think we agree. Certainly, personal precautions (masks/avoid large gatherings/use hand gels, etc) should be carried out, but restrictions on opening times and sending people into quarantine if they are not showing symptoms is damaging the economy more than needs be.
People should act as if they have flu: stay at home until you’re over the worse of it. Flu kills when it turns to pneumonia, so you must take care of yourself.
But basically, as long as you act responsibly and are asymptomatic, get out, go to work because, as I have pointed out above, yearly flu epidemics also has an impact on work forces without making quarantining compulsory, even if it is for only a week.
@Martin
Fair enough. I was quibbling about the use of “herd immunity” because there’s a lot of misinformation about it and it’s a bit more complicated than the general impression given out in the media. Jeremy nailed the definition pretty well; but then went on to suggest that everyone getting omicron would solve things, which I sincerely doubt.
I do sort of agree with the rest of what you’re saying because there has to be enough hands on deck to keep society running; but masks and avoiding enclosed spaces are still worth doing on a personal level if for no other reason than to avoid swamping the hospitals. Omicron seems to be drilling straight through vaccines and – while more benign – a certain percentage are going to be unlucky. We’re all tired of restrictions, but there are things we can do that will result in less deaths overall.
OK, I’ll put was I was saying in a nutshell:
We cannot continue shutting the economy down or hobbling it.
Those that are willing to be vaccinated (the vast majority of Spaniards, including myself) have had the double dose and a booster. Omicron moves so fast that we cannot keep tabs on those infected to trace who they have been in contact with and making this huge number of infected persons remain at home for ten days, plus any idea of restricting businesses other than the need to produce Covid Certificates upon entering, is unviable.
Result: Other than the vaccine campaigns and certificate carrying, we cannot tackle Omicron as we did with the original and subsequent variants, meaning that if you are going to get Omicron, then you’re going to get it, so there is no use hiding from it.
@Jeremy
Not sure I’m following your logic there. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to be saying that it’ll all be fine for the survivors once omicron has infected everybody?
Couple of things wrong with that: Omicron has only been about for a couple of months (first seen in S. Africa in early November 2021), so we don’t really know much about long-term effects. Secondly, the more people infected, the higher the chances of yet another mutation hatching. And a lot of people are currently infected, and we still don’t have the xmas/NYE numbers in yet (not to mention 12th night, which hasn’t happened yet).
This:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/how-effective-are-covid-19-vaccines-against-omicron
…gives a rough idea of how well existing vaccines do against omicron (all preprint studies because early days), and the picture isn’t comforting. There’s no guarantees that people who survive omicron will be any better at fending off future mutations because we just don’t know yet.
Getting back to herd immunity, bet you a tenner it’s not going to happen this year. If at all:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(21)00559-2/fulltext
“The original strain of SARS-CoV-2 has an R0 of 2·5, while the delta variant (B.1.617.2) has an R0 of just under 7. Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious diseases at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (London, UK), reckons omicron’s R0 could be as high as 10.”
Herd immunity does not mean that no one gets a disease. It means that there is sufficient immunity that a single outbreak does not spread uncontrollably but instead dies away. In effect, the R0 number has been reduced to below 1 without the need for restrictions (masks, distancing, lockdown etc).
We will now get there because Omicron is just too contagious to stop (just look at the figures). Some people will die, most likely unvaccinated, but not solely. The rest will survive due to vaccines or luck. A few will have long Covid. After that, outbreaks won’t spread easily again. But they will still exist, like measles still exists, for example.
I’m afraid that herd immunity isn’t achievable with covid, because you can still catch, emit, and die from it even if you’re fully vaccinated and boosted. So even if you vaccinated and boosted 100% of the population (+ tourists) covid would still be here.
What the vaccine does is give you a much better chance of survival and – because your body already knows what covid looks like and how to deal with it – if you do get it, it’s *likely* to be less serious and last for less time. But it’s all just odds now.
Here’s some numbers showing the current score:
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths-by-vaccination
…so even if you do everything right, you can still be unlucky.
(insert paragraph of usual lecture about masks, avoiding crowds and indoor spaces when possible etc).