It is confirmed that the peak incidence of respiratory viruses was reached in the last week of 2023 and that the plateau on which influenza activity is located in Spain is consolidated, according to the data published yesterday by Sentinel Surveillance of Respiratory Infection Acute in Primary Care and Hospitals (flu, covid and RSV), from the Carlos III Health Institute.
With these data, the Government Council of Castile and León (1,093.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) has agreed to eliminate the obligation to wear a mask in health centers after considering that the requirements of the Ministry of Health are met that the incidence of respiratory infections two weeks ago that are going down. However, the data provided by Carlos III deny this: they fell in the second week of January, but in the first week of the year they rose compared to December.
It is not the only community that would meet these requirements, since there are quite a few regions that have seen a reduction in the incidence of these viruses, as is the case of Castilla-La Mancha, Asturias, Cantabria, Valencia, Galicia and Madrid, that they’ve been down for two weeks, but this last community understands that the two-week criteria started last week, so they won’t make a decision until next week. The rest of the autonomies that could do it are quietly waiting for the downloads to be confirmed.
In Catalonia, it is finally coming down, after weeks of rising, but it would still have one more week of falling to adopt the decision to withdraw the obligation to use masks in health centers.
The same does not happen in other communities, such as Andalusia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Murcia, Extremadura, Ceuta, Navarra and the Basque Country, where the flu and viruses are rising again with some force after registering a fall in the week above, according to this report.
In the week from January 8 to 14, the global rate stands at 926.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (923.5 cases the previous week). By age group, the highest rates of respiratory infections in primary care occur in the group of children under 1 year (3,951.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), followed by the group of 1-4 years (1,819, 5 cases). By sex, the incidence rates are higher in women than in men (1,050.9 and 797.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively).
According to this report, the co-circulation of influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV continues, with more intensity for influenza, but with declining positivity associated with a decline in influenza rates across the board of health care.
In the second week of the year, the decline in flu activity in Spain is consolidated, with a peak incidence in primary care in the last week of 2023 and a peak in hospitalizations for flu in the first week of in the year 2024.
Hospitalization for covid is decreasing, especially in patients aged 80 and over, while that of RSV infection is decreasing in children under 1 year old and continues to rise in patients aged 80 and over.
In Andalusia, the second community with the lowest incidence in all of Spain (626 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), after the Balearic Islands, the Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Catalina García, has asked the population to “not rely on it”. despite the fact that the incidence rate of flu and covid in Andalusia has dropped in recent weeks, because the respiratory viruses “will not retreat until March, when they will start to drop”, so “the most important thing is that the Andalusians vaccinate”
García recalled that last year, in mid-February, “we had a high peak that made us all put on alert again”.
The prudence of the communities that meet the requirements to eliminate the obligation to wear masks in health centers and hospitals contrasts with the action of Castilla y León, which, despite being one of the first to decree their use, is now the first to replace the obligation by recommendation and the fact that this community is one of the oldest in Spain. From the Ministry of Health “the decision taken by the ministry is accepted”, although caution is called for.