‘Here We Go Again’: A Second Virus Wave Grips Spain

MÁLAGA, Spain — At noon on Sunday, there have been 31 sufferers inside the primary coronavirus remedy middle in Málaga, the town with the fastest-rising an infection price in southern Spain. At 12.15 p.m., the 32nd arrived in an ambulance. Half an hour later got here quantity 33.

The rubbish can by the door overflowed with masks and blue surgical gloves. Kin hovered in silence exterior — one in every of them in tears, one other feeling a pang of déjà-vu.

“My brother-in-law had the virus within the spring,” stated Julia Bautista, a 58-year-old retired workplace administrator ready for information on Sunday of her 91-year-old father.

“Right here we go once more,” she added.

If Italy was the harbinger of the primary wave of Europe’s coronavirus pandemic in February, Spain is the portent of its second.

France can also be surging, as are elements of Japanese Europe, and instances are ticking up in Germany, Greece, Italy and Belgium, too, however previously week, Spain has recorded probably the most new instances on the continent by far — more than 53,000. With 114 new infections per 100,000 people in that time, the virus is spreading faster in Spain than in the United States, more than twice as fast as in France, about eight times the rate in Italy and Britain, and ten times the pace in Germany.

Spain was already one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, and now has about 440,000 cases and more than 29,000 deaths. But after one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns, which did check the virus’s spread, it then enjoyed one of the most rapid reopenings. The return of nightlife and group activities — far faster than most of its European neighbors — has contributed to the epidemic’s resurgence.

Now, as other Europeans mull how to restart their economies while still protecting human life, the Spanish have become an early bellwether for how a second wave might happen, how hard it might hit, and how it could be contained.

“Perhaps Spain is the canary in the coal mine,” said Prof. Antoni Trilla, an epidemiologist at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, a research group. “Many countries may follow us — but hopefully not at the same speed or with the same number of cases that we are facing.”

To be sure, doctors and politicians are not as terrified by Spain’s second wave as they were by its first. The mortality rate is roughly half the rate at the height of crisis — falling to 6.6 percent from the 12 percent peak in May.

The median age of sufferers has dropped to around 37 from 60. Asymptomatic cases account for more than 50 percent of positive results, which is partly due to a fourfold rise in testing. And the health institutions feel much better prepared.

“We have experience now,” said Dr. María del Mar Vázquez, the medical director of the hospital in Málaga where Ms. Bautista’s father was being treated.

“We have a much bigger stock of equipment, we have protocols in place, we are more prepared,” Dr. Vázquez said. “The hospitals will be full — but we are ready.”

Yet part of the hospital is still a building site — contractors have yet to finish a renovation of the wing of the hospital that deals with coronavirus patients. No one expected the second wave for at least another month.

And epidemiologists aren’t certain why it arrived so soon.

Explanations include a rise in large family gatherings; the return of tourism in cities like Málaga; the decision to return responsibility for combating the virus to local authorities at the end of the nationwide lockdown, and a lack of adequate housing and health care for migrants.

The surge has also been blamed on the revival of nightlife, which was reinstated earlier and with looser restrictions than in many other parts of Europe.

“We have this cultural factor related to our rich social life,” said Ildefenso Hernández, a former director-general of public health for the Spanish Government. “People are close. They like to get to know each other.”

For several weeks in places like Málaga, nightclubs and discos were allowed to open until as late as 5 a.m., as regional politicians attempted to revive an economy dependent on tourists and partygoers. Revelers were allowed only to dance around a table with friends, rather than mixing with strangers — but the rules were not always observed.

In one notorious incident in early August, a performer was filmed spitting at dancers on a crowded dance ground at a seashore membership exterior Málaga.

“There’s a form of warfare happening to point out what sort of political system is healthier,” stated Nacho Calle, the editor of Maldita, a outstanding fact-checking service. The decentralized method has led to a piecemeal system of monitoring and tracing potential coronavirus victims. Some areas make use of a number of thousand trackers to hint individuals who might need come into contact with contaminated folks, whereas different areas employed just a few dozen — slowing the speed at which potential sufferers are informed to enter quarantine.

And even in areas with giant numbers of trackers, like Andalusia, well being employees on the bottom report that the method continues to be too gradual and understaffed in sure areas.

Francisca Morente, a nurse in a clinic west of Málaga, was one in every of a whole bunch of native nurses seconded this summer season to work as a tracker due to employees shortages at her district’s official tracing unit.

However even now, Ms. Morente is one in every of simply 5 trackers working at her clinic — not sufficient to make the a whole bunch of every day calls {that a} correct tracing service requires. And even as soon as she manages to trace down potential coronavirus sufferers, these sufferers nonetheless at the moment want to attend per week till their exams are processed, due to bottlenecks at native laboratories.

“We want extra trackers and extra assets,” she stated. “We want a chosen tracker unit in each clinic, as an alternative of this momentary system that we’ve for the time being.”

A lack of institutional help for undocumented migrants has additionally contributed to the second wave, in line with some specialists. Some current outbreaks started amongst overseas farmhands dwelling in cramped communal lodging.

Barred from searching for unemployment advantages and missing formal labor contracts, undocumented migrants can’t simply take day without work work if they’re sick. Nor can they afford the sorts of houses that will enable them to simply self-isolate.

“If I’ve to quarantine, then I can’t work,” stated María Perea, a 50-year-old Colombian cleaner ready on Monday for the outcomes of a coronavirus check. “And if I can’t work, then I’ve no cash.”

However on the whole, docs say that Spain is in a far stronger place to battle the virus than it was in March.

Nationwide coordination is enhancing — the central authorities final week agreed a deal to deploy 2,000 troopers as contact tracers. Testing speeds are accelerating — in Málaga, the largest hospital can course of exams inside a single morning, due to the current buy of a collection of robots. Throughout the highway, a makeshift hospital in-built a rush in April stands empty, prepared for an increase in instances.

“It’s not like the primary wave,” stated Carmen Cerezo, 38, a prepare attendant ready exterior the Málaga hospital whereas her father was examined for coronavirus inside.

“We’re calmer now,” she stated.