Responding to the Spanish government health minister's proposal that Covid should be treated as being endemic once the current wave of infection passes, President Armengol said on Thursday that there needs to be a "step-by-step approach".
"Thanks to science", she observed, there are the means for "living" with the virus. In this regard, she stressed the importance of maintaining safety measures, such as the wearing of masks and vaccination.
"If we have a situation in which a strong increase in infections does not create a serious problem for the health service, then we will be talking about another phase of the disease. Right now, we are in the situation we are in and we have to be very cautious." Omicron is highly contagious, so "we have to be very alert". "Getting over Covid is not a trivial matter."
Armengol reiterated the importance of the booster jab and of children under the age of 12 being vaccinated. "A vaccinated person can be infected. But getting over the disease is not the same if you are not vaccinated as it is for someone who is. An unvaccinated person infects much more than a vaccinated person and is harming another citizen who can be infected. I cannot be clearer."