Well, after all the deaths, sickness and general hassle, we finally find out what it was all about. Or so I thought when I saw an article about a formal conference review of it it in the spanish press.
Ah, but no!
Turns out that the primary conference of all concerned parties have come up with the conclusions that they don´t really know where it came from, how it was spread or what the key preventitive measures should be. Vaccination seems to have saved a lot of people, but this bunch of experts say they are not convinced about transmission by touch of objects (so all the gloves and wiping was in vain), that the efficacy of masks is very dubious# (and tests showed a minimal improvement by wearing them), but that people eating and drinking together seem to be at higher risk.
Another article used the word "miasma" and implied that it was only airborne, but with very fine but short(ish) lived particles (which rendered standard face-masks useless).
No one mentioned the "viral-load", whereby people working in regular contact with patients seemed to contact a bad dose - or that certain ethnic groups were more at risk - or, for that matter, that age and pre-existing medical conditions were a key factor in the death rate.
Holy cow - these are experts (who have gone missing!).
My layman´s findings are that if you are of pensionable age, you at far greater risk; that it is spread by coughs and sneezes; that hospitals and medical facilities are danger hot-spots; singing and shouting in crowded areas is very dangerous and bars and restaurants (for some reason*) are very dodgy - basically crowds (let´s just say people) are to be avoided - oh and children are likely to be super-spreaders;
Funnily enough, that is pretty much what you would expect from ´flu too.
Here in Malaga, the press contradict themselves on a daily basis - and sometimes on the same page.
Yesterday I read that Andalucia was in level zero, but then that Malaga province was staying in level one. Then I read that 4500 cruise ship passengers docking in Malaga would be able to enjoy themselves without having to stay in bubbles. Something is not right there, but no-one seems to know exactly what is going on. This morning my pal (due to go on a cruise from Malaga tomorrow) had received a message saying Andalucia (hence he assumed Malaga) was now in level zero. But anyway - we should maintain social distancing and wear masks in shops, crowded places and restaurants etc.
If the whole thing gets the spanish to use handkerchieves and stop coughing and sneezing into other people´s space, it might help us all.
* and then I realised that locally people treat a bar / restaurant like a "safe space" and despite the staff all wearing masks and the rule being that you take off your mask only while imbibing (yes, really), people just take off their masks as they walk in and act like it was 2018!
# and regarding mask wearing, the spanish media reckon that the UK´s problems are worse than spain´s principally as the use of masks has dropped off there (but the requirement is going to be in force here until spring 2022)
Commentaires