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CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL
dr dolots
April 15th - April 28th 2020
Early lockdown and shrewd planning from local GP helps rural region stay free from coronavirus
Strictly locked down
HE can’t dance his way out of this one. Former Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole has been locked down in his Mallorca holiday home since the Covid-19 outbreak began. The New Zealand ballroom dancer has been unable to leave the property he owns with wife Zoe and their children Aurelia, seven, and Dante, two. They have been making the most of their pool and BBQ, while Brendan, 43, has been cooking up a storm with a meat and potatoes dish. Zoe, a model and lifestyle blogger, also posted selfies of herself enjoying a glass of wine. “Today we’re happy as the sun came out for the first time in over a week!” she commented.
A REGION of eight towns and villages in northern Spain have stayed Coronavirus free by declaring a lockdown a week earlier than the rest of the country. The area of Cedrillas decided to begin social distancing and take drastic measures on March 7, a week before the country went into official lockdown. The boss of the local health centre and the local mayor agreed to close the 428km square region, in Teruel, which includes Castellar, el Pobo de la Sierra, Monteagudo del Castillo, Jorcas,
By Joshua Parfitt
Allepuz, Villarroya de los Pinares and Miravete de la Sierra. The result: not one person in the area has so far been confirmed as a victim of Covid-19.
Trust
Now, the region’s GP Eduardo Comas, coordinator of the Centro de Salud de Cedrillas has been singled out for praise in his quick-thinking measures. He puts his decision down to trust and says it was vital as a large percentage of the re-
gion’s 1,221 residents are over 65 years old. In particular, the main town has an old people’s home, which has seen no cases, while in the town of Valderrobres, just outside the region over 80% of residents and half of the workers in one nursing home alone have caught the virus. “The advantage of rural towns is that residents trust in their doctor, and have contact with their doctor,” explained Comas. All consented to introduce social distancing measures, and also included disin-
650,000 people break lockdown SINCE the start of Spain’s coronavirus lockdown on March 14, police have issued 650,000 fines for breaking the emergency regulations. Spain’s Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, revealed the figures on Monday during an online press conference. Marlaska emphasised that the sole purpose of issuing fines was to ensure people obeyed the regulations, dismissing claims from some quarters that it was a money-making exercise. He added that public health was his department’s priority. He continued to say that the
vast majority of people were obeying the regulations. There had been a slight rise in the number of people being fined last week, but generally compliance was good. Marlaska said that money collected from fines will be handed over to the Treasury, which will decide on how it should be spent. During the conference he also announced that 4,500 Policia Nacional, Guardia Civil, Red Cross and Civil protection volunteers have started handing out 10 million free protective masks at train and bus stations. He pledged that the scheme will be rolled out to pharmacies in the coming days.
INGENIOUS: Dr Comas saved his town and region
fecting all shops and public buildings and keeping old people indoors. “The nursing home was like a bunker,” continued Comas. “No one entered, and no one left. We cleaned the trucks bringing in supplies with bleach, because if the virus got in, there would be no way of stopping it.” The only person given a special permit to use the roads was ‘Ratoncito Perez’ – the Spanish version of the tooth fairy – whom mayor Jose Luis Lopez assured children would still visit their homes. While a beautiful area for rural tourism, Comas believes that Cedrillas’ lack of ‘tourism, concerts, big events and public transport’ has saved them from the coronavirus. Oh, and a bit of quick thinking from him.
Mask task A PAIR of factories in Andalucia have launched a huge recycling project, aiming to each recycle 500,000 face masks a day. The petrochemical facilities of Asturain energy firm Therman in Montilla (Cordoba) and Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) are participating in the national project, ‘Industrial and Neutral Antiseptic Pressurised System’. The project urges all hospital and healthcare personnel to properly recycle used surgical masks. Therman spokesperson Carmen Espinosa told the Olive Press that the project aims to ease the shortage of protective equipment due to the high demand generated by the coronavirus pandemic.
