The miracle of the Crown of Madrid: the numbers go down despite the “high life”

The miracle of the Crown of Madrid: the numbers go down despite the “high life”

Emilio Rappold / dpa

The Retiro and other parks in Madrid are full of athletes and recreational hikers these days. If you’d rather enjoy the mild autumn sun while sitting with a beer or the famous Horchata tiger nut milk drink, you often have to search longer for a free terrace table.

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While in many other cities in Spain and Europe, in addition to restaurants, cultural and leisure facilities are sometimes completely closed, you can sit in the bars and restaurants of the Spanish capital until midnight. The surprising thing is that, despite the relatively exuberant hustle and bustle, the number of infections and other important markers in the former coronal epicenter have been decreasing, in some cases rapidly, for weeks.

At the end of September, when the crown situation was still relatively relaxed elsewhere, the Madrid region, with 813 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within 14 days, still had by far the worst values ​​in Western Europe. This so-called 14-day incidence was only 328 years. The number of cases per 100,000 population in seven days fell Wednesday through Thursday from 161 to 152.

In Spain, out of the total of the 17 so-called autonomous communities, only the island regions (Canary and Balearic Islands), as well as Galicia and Valencia have better values. Such a rapid improvement in the situation as in Madrid was not recorded anywhere. For comparison: in Geneva, the most affected canton in Switzerland, the 14-day incidence is 2495, in Uri it is 547.

Success or lack of information?

The newspaper “El Mundo” and other Spanish media are now talking about the “Milagro” of Madrid, the “Miracle of Madrid”, due to the long-standing trend. Experts are perplexed and don’t dare to give concrete explanations. What is Madrid doing well? “This is the million dollar question,” epidemiologist José Jonay Ojeda tells El Mundo. It is too early to draw conclusions. Ojeda agrees with many colleagues, however, that there may be one main reason for the success: the antigen test.

Madrid bought five million of these tests at the end of September. Offensive tests were launched in problem areas. “It was the right decision. This makes it easier, cheaper and faster to diagnose contagious cases. So you can isolate infected people first, “explains Miguel Ángel Royo, spokesman for the Spanish Association of Epidemiologists. Antigen tests are less sensitive than PCR tests.” But very few positive cases go undetected, “says Ojeda.

Other Spanish regions, which, despite the tighter restrictions on the virus, simply cannot dominate, look to Madrid with a mixture of envy and skepticism. There are doubts, especially in Catalonia with the tourist metropolis of Barcelona, ​​which has always had a great rivalry with Madrid in all sectors (from football to business). «We question the optimism of Madrid. It is clear that there is an information blackout there, ”said regional health minister Marc Ramentol.

Due to the ever-scarce number, all restaurants, bars, cinemas and theaters in Catalonia will be closed until 23 November. The instruction, which took effect October 16, was extended by ten days on Friday. The delimitation of the region, the delimitation of all communities on weekends and the night curfew are also maintained. Similar strict restrictions also apply in other regions of Spain.

But is Ramentol’s accusation correct? Are the numbers embellished by Madrid’s conservative regional government? Some experts do not rule out the possibility that there may be problems and delays in registering cases here and there, not just in Madrid.

But they point out that the situation in hospitals, for example, cannot be ignored. And even there it looks always better. “The fewer hospitalizations for patients with Covid-19 are a reality,” says Saúl Ares, head of biotechnology in the Supreme Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). Indeed: at the beginning of October the number of hospitalizations in Madrid was well over 2,500 per day, only 238 were reported on Thursday (out of 316 dismissals).

What’s the recipe?

What makes Madrid different from other regions? The main difference: it does not delimit the whole region or entire cities and municipalities and only the smaller neighborhoods that have high numbers. You can only enter or leave these areas with good reason. The curfew will be brought forward to 22:00, the parks and play areas will be closed. Apparently this is enough: on Friday 10 of the 32 affected areas were again “unlocked” because the number of infections halved in 14 days.

Even the media and experts are convinced that the people of Madrid have become more cautious due to the great shock. “Yes, that’s right. Even in our family, people almost always try to wear a mask and keep their distance. But there must also be joy”, retiree Carlos (75) and his wife Lurdes (77) say in unison. over a glass of red wine on the terrace of the traditional “Gijón” café.

The “miracle” delights all the people of Madrid, but one woman in particular: Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The regional president had been harshly criticized for months by the central government, the media and colleagues in other regions for her crown policy. She was accused of helplessness and inaction. For many media outlets, she was already “politically dead”. Now the journalist is suddenly seen as the new star and the bringer of hope for the Conservative People’s Party (PP).

You have “eggs, better ovaries”, wrote the columnist Emilia Landeluca in “El Mundo”. And on Thursday night, TV presenter Pablo Motos shouted in front of millions of viewers: “It’s good that we have them in Madrid!” (sda / dpa)