The spokesman for the Balearic Islands Autonomous Committee for the Management of Infectious Diseases, Javier Arranz, today stressed the importance of the population taking the booster Covid vaccine: “If we want to stay in the same good situation, I would encourage people who are still hesitating about taking the third dose to do so”.
Arranz said that “the disease is not exactly the same as it was at the beginning” and “it seems that the virus has changed.
“Is it the definitive phase? No, it is a phase of change bringing us closer to normality,” he added.
The spokesman said that the percentage of immunity of the population has facilitated this change. In fact, he stressed that Spain, and also the Balearics, is “at the lowest levels of daily cases”.
At the moment, the accumulated incidence in the Balearics stands at 535 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the last 14 days, so infections are rising “very slowly”, according to Arranz. However, the incidence rate for the last week is 50% lower, which means that the curve is slowing down.
Regarding the situation in hospitals, there are a total of 120 people on the wards and 21 in intensive care due to Covid.
By island, in Mallorca there are 88 patients on the wards with 18 in ICU, in Minorca there are three patients on the wards with two in ICU, and in Ibiza there were, 27 on the wards and one in ICU.
The Director General of Public Health and Participation, Maria Antònia Font, detailed the new national strategy for surveillance and monitoring of COVID-19, which will come into force next Monday, March 28.
The new strategy, approved by the Public Health Commission, will be applied whenever the pressure on care services is at a low level.
The main new feature is the modification of diagnostic tests, which will now focus on people with vulnerability factors (the over-60s and pregnant women), vulnerable areas (health and socio-health) and serious cases. Font pointed out that these indications have already been passed on to the Balearic Health Service management offices so that health professionals can begin to apply them as of next Monday.
“We are aware that, during the first few days, there will not be 100% compliance or that tests will be carried out on people who do not need them, but we are sure that the health system will adapt to this situation,” she said.
Despite this change in strategy, Font reiterated the importance of continuing to maintain preventive measures and wearing masks indoors and outdoors whenever it is not possible to maintain a safe distance.
Otherwise, she warned that “we cannot end up normalising the situation” and called for care to be taken of the most vulnerable people.