On Monday, Dr. Javier Arranz, the spokesperson for the Balearics committee for the management of infectious diseases, reported a total of 252 coronavirus-related hospital admissions (25 of them for social reasons). Over the weekend, sixty-one more patients were admitted, eleven of them to intensive care. By islands, Majorca has the most admissions - 222, of whom 27 are in ICU.
"We are experiencing a small uptick in terms of admissions." There are people in ICU and "some of them will leave us; they will die." Several people in ICU, he said, were between 20 and 50 years old. "We have some young people who are in a bad way."
Arranz added that "we are in a second wave, with a significant rise that will last a few days". He stressed that the situation is not the same as it was in March, which led to the lockdown.
He explained that there is community transmission and called for responsibility. "Cases are increasing and they will continue to increase. Depending on how we behave, there will be decisions in the coming days. The health service is not in a critical situation, and we don't want to get there." Some of measures could be similar to those adopted in Catalonia, but none have yet been decided. It takes fourteen days to find out how the virus responds to previously adopted restrictions.
Arranz pointed to the fact that people are spending time on terraces without masks. They are there for more than half an hour, drinking slowly. "When you are on a terrace, you should put your mask on if you plan to stay longer." He asked that fewer people attend family and friends' gatherings. Young people who engage in "risky activities", such as sharing drinks or not respecting safe distance, "have been warned that the asymptomatic are responsible for the community transmission that we have".
He stated that rather than limiting mobility, he is insisting on abiding with necessary measures to avoid infections and complying with these "to the maximum". "At present, it's not a case of prohibiting people from going to terraces but about doing things well."
Asked about Remdesivir, Arranz explained that the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Products has permitted its use and that more will be bought. He insisted that "it is not the treatment". It helps some patients but not all. On schools, he said that they will open but that the way in which they open is under discussion.