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OBSOLETE COVID THREAD Spain calls for debate on COVID as endemic, good news possibly coming

OBSOLETE COVID THREAD
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This is good news for Spain, and long overdue. If something good comes of this, I will be walking in Sept.
Spain calls for debate to consider COVID as endemic
Iā€˜ve not followed this debate closely and I donā€™t get very excited about it, frankly.

What I see in the article are these words: ā€žSpain is calling on Europe to debate the possibility that Covid-19 can now be treated as an endemic illnessā€œ and ā€žthere may be reasons now, with precaution, to assess the disease with different parameters than those used so farā€œ.

Essentially, the idea is to no longer count every case, to no longer use the incidence rate, and the positivity rate etc etc to establish public health measures as the EU countries have done so far to establish a more or less common line but to monitor the disease in the populations like they monitor influenza and other diseases for example. The key word is sentinel surveyance.

Iā€˜ve learnt, btw, that we distinguish between endemic, pandemic, and epidemic. Endemic doesnā€™t mean harmless and it doesnā€™t mean recurring every winter. Malaria is endemic, for example, in numerous countries.

But yes it is good to see the success of the vaccination campaigns.
 
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Hereā€˜s a good article en El Pais, dated 10 January 2022 and in English, about what this is all about:

Monitoring will no longer rely on exhaustive infection counts but on a sentinel network of experts. The omicron strain keeps pushing up infections, adding difficulties to the return to school.
This sentinel surveillance system is not specific to Spain. All EU countries have it and they are part of the European Influenza Surveillance Network for influenza and similar respiratory diseases; this network will be adapted to accommodate Covid-19 reporting eventually.
See https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/seaso...-and-disease-data/facts-sentinel-surveillance and https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/COVID-19-surveillance-guidance.pdf.
 
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Alex from Fresco Tours shared this with me:
  • Only close contacts (defined as a person having been in the same place with a positive case, less than 2 meters apart, for more than 15 cumulative minutes during 24 hours, without a properly worn mask) who are NOT vaccinated are required to test and isolate themselves.
https://www.euskadi.eus/como-actuo/web01-a2korona/es/#tab3109
 
From my perspective, the realization that COVID-19 is becoming endemic vs. pandemic is coming over the next few months. It SHOULD result in less internal restrictions in Spain, Portugal and across the EU and U.K. as new cases drop to something similar to seasonal flu.

However, the problem for Europe will likely remain, visitors from other countries with much lower vaccination rates or outright vaccination avoidance. The various European countries are making it increasingly difficult for their unvaccinated nationals to go about their lives. It is not my place to have an opinion n these actions, and I donā€™t.

In Spain, the overall COVID vaccination rate is above 80% and in Santiago above 90%. Conversely, here in the US, the national vaccination rate hovers around 63%.

While I am fully topped off - with as many vaccinations as they will give me - I expect continued restrictions imposed by other countries who want to prevent unvaccinated people from entering their countries - as is their right. I will jump through as many hoops as they put in my path. Itā€™s all good.

Hope this helps.

Tom
 
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Iā€™ve been reading about Covid being a viral load similar to norovirus. Although since variants are occurring, this would mean a yearly shot akin to the flu. How the upcoming variants would be predicted is another question, if needed at all. The Spanish prime minister is correct in calling it an ā€œendemicā€ in the strictest sense of the word. However, it is endemic similar to chicken pox which is universal.
Also, the current vaccines in the US do not act as a typical ā€œvaccineā€ but act as a spike in the protein and is an mNRA vaccine. They build memory cells so the body can fight the virus with its own lymphocytes. This is not similar to the flu vaccine(s).
From my perspective, the realization that COVID-19 is becoming endemic vs. pandemic is coming over the next few months. It SHOULD result in less internal restrictions in Spain, Portugal and across the EU and U.K. as new cases drop to something similar to seasonal flu.

However, the problem for Europe will likely remain, visitors from other countries with much lower vaccination rates or outright vaccination avoidance. The various European countries are making it increasingly difficult for their unvaccinated nationals to go about their lives. It is not my place to have an opinion n these actions, and I donā€™t.

In Spain, the overall COVID vaccination rate is above 80% and in Santiago above 90%. Conversely, here in the US, the national vaccination rate hovers around 63%.

While I am fully topped off - with as many vaccinations as they will give me - I expect continued restrictions imposed by other countries who want to prevent unvaccinated people from entering their countries - as is their right. I will jump through as many hoops as they put in my path. Itā€™s all good.

Hope this helps.

Tom
 
A bit to much speculation in this thread. There are other forums for this sort of stuff.
The concern of this forum remains the impact of Covid and Covid controls on those currently or imminently walking Camino. The mights and maybeā€™s that will pertain months from now are unknowable.
Iā€™m locking this thread
 
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