One in four covid deaths reported since the end of August occurred in residences

A woman receives a visit from her granddaughters through a window of the Velluters residence, in Valencia. BIEL ALIÑO / EFE

One in four deaths from covid-19 reported since the end of August by the communities is of a resident in a social health center (for the elderly or for people with disabilities).

After the tsunami of last spring, when the virus broke into many of these facilities and caused more than 20,000 deaths, residences continue to be a major source of contagion, especially nursing homes.

In the absence of official figures at the national level, the percentage is an estimate from this newspaper after requesting data from the 17 autonomies, both on the deaths of residents and the total in the region.

Between August 31 and November 17, 14,464 deaths were reported, of which 3,484 correspond to residences.

At that date - or the last one updated by the community until then - there were, in addition, at least 8,700 active infections in centers (neither Castilla y León nor Asturias provide this information).

They are 33.6% more than at the end of October.

281% more than at the end of August.

The data of the communities are very little homogeneous.

But they allow us to calculate that, until November 17, more than 24,500 residents in social and health centers had died from confirmed covid or compatible symptoms since the start of the pandemic.

The 3,484 notified since the end of August represent 24.1% of the total deaths registered in the same period.

But the figure rises to 29.8% if the data from Madrid are excluded, which are incomplete because they only include deaths in the centers themselves, and now many older people die in hospitals, given that there have been no problems to date refer the cases that require it.

Only in two communities, in addition to Madrid (3.5%), this percentage drops below 20%: Comunidad Valenciana (18.9%) and Canarias (8.7%).

In the Balearic Islands, the deaths of elderly people living in residences account for almost six out of 10 (58.4%) of all deaths reported at this time.

In absolute values, the communities that reported the most deaths of residents in social health centers since the end of August were Catalonia (702), Castilla y León (595) and Andalusia (544).

As a percentage, the highest increases have been registered in Murcia (the 99 deaths reported represent an increase of 150% compared to two and a half months ago), the Balearic Islands (94 deaths, 97.9% more) and Andalusia (93.2% more).

There are big differences in the way communities present their data.

There are regions such as Aragon or Andalusia that update the residence figures once a week, so the one closest to November 17 has been used (never data after that date).

The majority report on the specific situation in nursing homes, but Madrid and Castilla y León do not detail the situation in these centers, but in social health centers in general, although the vast majority are also older, judging by the data from the rest of the communities.

There are territories that break down the data, divided between the elderly who underwent a test and those who presented symptoms compatible with the virus and died without being tested, and others that give the information jointly.

But, even with these deficiencies, the only way to know what the situation is in nursing homes (or socio-health centers, for communities that do not specify data on nursing homes) is to resort to the 17 autonomies and their 17 health care systems. information (in the Basque case, you must also consult with the councils).

Because, eight months after the pandemic broke out, the data on deaths and infections are still not centralized.

The Ministry of Health collects information only on outbreaks, which it releases every Friday in its daily report.

In the Ministry of Social Rights they explain that they do not receive direct information from the autonomies (which are competent in social services).

The situation is now different from that of the first wave.

At that time, the centers fought against the infection without being able to test the residents, without having individual protection equipment for the workers, without being able to send all the necessary cases to the hospital.

In the draft of the work group on residences formed by the Secretary of State for Social Rights, the communities and the social agents, advanced by EL PAÍS, it was estimated that 20,268 deaths until June 23 in social and health centers.

It is the first official figure that transcends at the national level.

It was estimated that they were approximately half of all deaths registered in the country.

In the “perfect storm” that led to the horror experienced in the spring in the centers, issues that cannot be changed, according to the report, such as the virus hits the elderly harder or its high contagiousness influenced.

But problems were also cited such as that, when the centers were closed, the virus was already inside;

that staff ratios are insufficient or poor coordination with the health system.

Now the latter continues to be one of the main demands of the sector, together with the provision of intermediate centers to which to transfer the elderly infected and the request for periodic tests for workers, the main transmitters of infections, something that not all communities perform.

Fernando Simón, director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES), explained last Thursday that, “taking into account that there is a community transmission [of the coronavirus]”, residences had to be affected “sooner or later”, and This despite the fact that now they are "better prepared" and the "enormous effort" of the workers.

The impact of the virus, therefore, "is much less."

Simón acknowledged that there are no specific data on fatality in these centers, but affirmed that in those over 70 and 80 years old, among those who live in nursing homes, it was around 22% in the first wave and now stands at “8% or 8.5% ".

The spokesman for the Ministry of Health assured that in the first wave about 20% of the residences were affected, which brought together many cases, and that now it is "the others", but in lesser volume, those that suffer the consequences of the virus.

Despite this, some outbreaks continue to exceed one hundred infections, as the CCAES shows in its reports.

If the data are compared with those of the end of August, active infections rise in all the regions that provide the data, with the exception of Bizkaia.

Compared to the end of October, they only decreased in Castilla-La Mancha (317 less), Catalonia (317), Galicia (30) and Madrid (1, with information as of November 12), while they increased by 845 in Andalusia and 655 in Aragon (until November 12).

Given the situation, the at least 8,700 active infections in residences reignite the fear in the centers that a new collapse of the health system will leave the elderly again in the lurch, the fear that the hospital admissions of the elderly who require it.

The real number of deaths in Madrid is unknown

Catalonia and Madrid are the communities with the most deaths in residences since the beginning of the pandemic, with 7,137 and 4,940, respectively, according to data from the death certificates.

The first refers to the deaths of the elderly who lived in residences, whether they died in the centers themselves or in hospitals.

The second, to all social and health centers and, furthermore, does not include those who died in hospitals.

In other words, the true impact of the virus in the socio-health centers of the region is still unknown.

In addition, the data from the departments of Social Policies and Health do not coincide.

Until the end of the state of alarm, Social Policies sent the data twice a week to the Ministry of Health.

According to a request from this newspaper by the transparency portal, with information provided by the council based on what was transmitted by the centers themselves, up to July 7, 5,954 residents died in the centers themselves.

But, according to the data published daily by Health, based on death certificates, up to November 17, 4,940 deaths were counted in social health centers.

Two official figures with a difference of more than a thousand.

For this article, and given that since the beginning of summer the only way to follow up the cases in residences in Madrid is through the information published in the daily epidemiological report, Health data has been used.

According to them, from August 31 to November 17, 109 deaths were recorded in the centers themselves.

But those responsible for the residences explain that in these establishments now fundamentally those who were already in a terminal process die, which means that the elderly who become infected and require it are transferred to the hospital.

It is unknown how many have been, nor the number of deaths.

It is impossible to know the real number of deaths of users of social and sanitary residences in Madrid.

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