The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

A postcovid laboratory called Gibraltar

2021-03-28T05:25:35.594Z


After vaccinating more than 70%, the Rock is one of the first territories in the world to relax measures, such as the obligation of outdoor masks


Marriage link between Krisanne Lia and Fabian Mauro, citizens of Gibraltar.PACO PUENTES / EL PAÍS

Krisanne Lia and Fabian Mauro had been waiting to get married since January, just when the coronavirus showed its most stark and sad face to Gibraltar.

Two months and 4,273 infections later - only on January 8 there were 1,317 active cases - the brand new bride and groom pose in Commonwealth Park for a photo with family and friends without masks or safety distance.

The 16 portrayed are already vaccinated, like most of the 22,700 adults of El Peñón, out of a population of more than 33,700 inhabitants.

Lia and Mauro have agreed on the same day that the city becomes one of the first territories in the world to de-escalate measures after achieving herd immunity, with the hope and uncertainty of being a kind of laboratory of what that will be like unknown postcovid normality.

This past Friday - just when the couple got married - the Rock began that unknown path of relaxation of measures with the elimination of the curfew and the extension of hours of the hotel industry, alcohol included, until 02.00 in the morning.

From this Sunday, the masks will be mandatory only indoors, after eliminating their use first from the less crowded streets - on March 1 - and now, from the downtown streets.

“It's a relief, although it's a bit scary.

I see it well if people are careful.

I don't know what to do, ”Lia acknowledged cautiously.

Like the 31-year-old, Gibraltarians are torn between joy and respect for a return to normalcy marked by the proximity of the border with a foreign territory, Spain, where the vaccine barely reaches 5.3% of the population.

That percentage of the completed schedule - two doses - seems far off compared to the 26,702 fully immunized people in Gibraltar, where the adult population susceptible to receiving punctures is around 22,700, according to the latest official statistics.

Since January, El Peñón has already administered 57,646 punctures, all from Pfizer: the 26,702 fully protected (of which 2,371 are cross-border workers) and the 30,944 people with first doses (of which 4,107 are foreign employees).

Now, at a rate of more than a thousand punctures a day, the process is mainly focused on cross-border workers.

After citing 6,478 foreigners, they have yet to reach the total of 14,669 workers who live on the other side of the border, 9,484 of them Spanish, according to figures provided by Gibraltar.

Juan Jesús Arenas, a freelancer dedicated to construction in El Peñón, can't wait for his turn: “I've already applied the application.

I think it will be shortly, perhaps next week, because if we are waiting for Spain… ”.

When Arenas receives the two punctures, he will become one of the immunized residents of La Línea, while his wife continues to wait "despite being a patient at risk."

"At least I'll be sure not to infect it," explains the hopeful freelancer.

With a fourth wave knocking at the door of Spain, the impassable rate of immunization becomes palpable on the land border.

Many of the passers-by who pass through the Gate, take off their masks as soon as they step on Gibraltarian soil.

"Here you can take it off," warns the flat-faced taxi driver Mustafá Aouhar.

“We return to normal little by little.

I hope nothing happens, but life goes on ”, he adds.

The Government defends its strategy of controlled opening, although "attentive to the evolution" of the pandemic and the extension of strains that could escape Pfizer's serum.

Juan Jesús Arenas, a Spanish worker in Gibraltar, removes his mask in one of the areas where it is no longer mandatory to wear them.PACO PUENTES / EL PAÍS

The CSIC immunologist Matilde Cañelles understands the paradox that exists between Gibraltar and its surroundings: “It is an effect of the difference in vaccination.

It is a prelude to what we are going to see.

In Europe we are castled and they [for Gibraltar] do not have to wait for us ”.

Although it also warns of the risk that the relaxation of measures may pose for Spaniards who go to El Peñón, since although most are vaccinated, there are still 11 active cases of coronavirus.

The Junta de Andalucía has even asked the Executive to require PCR tests at the land border.

The Government of Gibraltar does not enter the rag of the proposal - never imposed even in the worst of the health crisis - but recalls that the British variant has only been detected in half of the cases analyzed between December 2020 and February 2021 and that flights operating with the United Kingdom continue to maintain “very strict” control, with an obligation to carry out a PCR test, movements limited to residents of Gibraltar or Spain and a ban on tourists.

Beyond the suspicions on both sides of the fence, the two speeds of vaccination and de-escalation in such interconnected territories have an "exceptional" study value, according to the plain government. The GHA (Gibraltar Health Authority) and PHG (Gibraltar Public Health) are already analyzing it, while they follow the cases of infections after vaccination - there are five under study - to find out if reinfection has occurred. Ultimately, the new post-covid normal is at stake. And not only in El Peñón. “They do the experiment, we'll see how it goes. Depending on what happens, we will obtain information, ”says Cañelles hopefully.

Source: elparis

All life articles on 2021-03-28

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.