The Covid passport does not stop Ómicron

This has gone from around 200 cases at the beginning of December to reaching the maximum of 4,324 cases notified by the Ministry of Health this Wednesday. The president of the Hospitality Association of Cantabria, Angel Cuevas, showed his satisfaction on Wednesday at the withdrawal of this requirement for access to hotel establishments, while regretting that restrictions such as those affecting hours, nightlife or the prohibition of consuming at the bar are still in force. “We are clear, says the Ministry of Science, that between 30 and 33% of infections occur at private parties, at home and in large bottles, and we, in theory, 0.1%,” he said. in media statements.

Catalonia, no curfew

In Catalonia, the measures are also beginning to be lightened. The Secretary of Public Health, Carmen Heads, explained at a press conference that his Government has commissioned the Covid-19 Scientific Advisory Committee to review a standard such as that of the passport, so that they assess the use that the Catalan Executive has made of the document. However, he defended that his application has served to raise awareness on the importance of inoculation, it has increased vaccination coverage, especially among young people, and has also served to remind citizens that the pandemic continues. In this community, which has decided to end the nightly curfew that was applied in areas with the highest incidence of the virus, the infection rate was around 250 cases at the beginning of December. This Monday it stood at 4,417, one of the highest in the entire country. Despite this record reached just two days ago, the Minister of Health of the Generalitat, Josep Maria Argimon, confirmed at the same press conference that It has produced a slowdown in the pandemic, although he asked for another week to see how it evolves and if it continues.

Beyond Catalonia and Cantabria, not observed either the effect of the Covid pass in the rest of the autonomous communities that implemented it. In the current wave, Navarra has always been at the forefront in cumulative incidence of cases. The regional community required the certificate since last November 27 for access to restaurants with capacity for more than 60 people, discos and nightclubs, establishments with a coffee-show license and bars with a special license. It also required the document in massive events of a cultural nature with the consumption of food and drink held indoors and in which the capacity of 1,000 people is exceeded. However, from that date and until January 11, when the incidence peaked -with 7,253 cases-, it has not stopped growing, multiplying more than eleven times, from the 622 cases that were registered on December 1.

Solo four communities -Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Madrid and Extremadura- and now Cantabria have not implemented the use of this certificate, and according to experts, in this sixth wave the measures to stop it have been rather scarce. The passport specifically “has never been a most effective measure”, so its suppression “is not going to mean anything important,” Óscar Zurriaga, vice president of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE), tells ABC. In his opinion, this requirement could have made sense half a year ago, but “it would have been inequitable and unfair” with those who had not yet gotten a turn to get vaccinated.

many measures

«At the height of Christmas, when everyone had already had the opportunity to be vaccinated, did not make much epidemiological sense because with a vaccine that does not prevent transmission, the certificate can produce a false sense of security”, adds Zurriaga. The problem, from his point of view, has been trying to use a single measure, and now that these types of restrictions are beginning to be eliminated, even if they are “not very effective”, the message that is being transmitted “is that it is over and we can Let’s all relax.”

Regarding the curfew, acknowledges Zurriaga, your application can be useful “in times of greater mobility”, such as Christmas. The restriction of night mobility “adds one more element, but it is not the definitive method either,” he stresses. Along the same lines, the epidemiologist and professor at the Andalusian School of Public Health, Isabel Ruiz, justifies based on the criteria of severity of the disease and the number of vulnerable populations, each autonomous community applies its own standards and these are so disparate, depending on your own stage. The confusion, he explains together with Professor Jesús Henares, is that the very implantation of the passport can lead to confusion, since it “simply certifies that a person is vaccinated”. “As long as there are cases and people admitted, controls have to continue to be maintained, although they may not necessarily have to be as tight as in the second or third wave,” he says.

Regarding the possible remission of this sixth wave, Ruiz considers that it will still be necessary to see if the downward trend continues, although “it is still early to say so”. “Must find a balance between the -psychological- need to return to normality, but understanding that certain measures must be kept and that the vaccine has been effective and has drastically reduced mortality, ”argues the epidemiologist. Nor for Zurriaga can the pandemic be considered over yet: «That these days the accumulated incidence has decreased does not mean that we have reached the peak of the wave, or that tomorrow we will not have problems again, “he says.