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A corona patient is hospitalized in Caceres
Photo: Javier Caldera / dpa
Jorge Garcia Criado can no longer.
The intensive care doctor works in the University Hospital of Salamanca, a small town in western Spain.
He currently ventilates patients for up to 24 hours at a time and administers them with cortisone, which he now has a certain amount of experience.
For Garcia Criado it is the third corona wave.
In March and April, Carcia Criado looked into the frightened eyes of patients who believed Covid-19 was a death sentence.
In October, he ventilated people who had been infected in late summer, shortly after the strict lockdown had ended.
And now Garcia Criado has to take care of those who have become infected with family and friends over Christmas.
Many patients are remarkably young.
The third corona wave hit Spain with enormous force.
The 14-day incidence is over 800 infections per 100,000 population.
While Italy, France and Germany pushed the infection curve down with tough measures, it recently shot up as steeply in Spain as it was in Great Britain a few weeks ago.
The third wave already hits the country much harder than the second.
And it is not yet certain whether it will be any less terrible than the first.
In some regions, the hospitals are already fuller than they were in spring.
Field hospitals are being set up again, and doctors and nurses are again asking for the help of the population with a hashtag: #solosnopodemos - in German: "We can't do it alone."
The increase in the number of infections began when the second wave was not quite over.
Very slowly the numbers climbed up again, at first hardly anyone worried.
Then came a bridging day, a little later Christmas, New Year's Eve, and finally the Three Wise Men.
The holidays, on which there were no strict rules, helped the virus: It jumped from family to family, from group of friends to group of friends.
In the autumn, the Spanish regions succeeded in slowing the wave of infections with comparatively mild measures.
In some places restaurants had to close, some cities were only allowed to leave with good reason, and only meet friends in small groups.
Spain's top virologist and pandemic explainer Fernando Simón calls these measures "surgical".
The whole country was glad not to have to burden the economy again with a hard lockdown.
But are the surgical measures sufficient this time too?
Can the surge stop before the health system collapses or the new UK virus mutation spreads?
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Antigen tests in Ibiza: escalation over the holidays
Photo: Germán Lama / dpa
50 corona patients are currently admitted to hospital in Salamanca every day.
In a week or two you will be at the level of the first wave, says Garcia Criado.
He treats the patients in poorly converted wards.
The actual intensive care units have long been full.
The mood in the hospital is eerie, says Garcia Criado on the phone.
There is silence in the corridors and most operations and regular treatments have been postponed.
The worst, says Garcia Criado, is the desperation of his colleagues: the tiredness of the nurse, who sinks powerlessly into the first armchair during her break;
the trauma of the doctor fighting back tears in the middle of a conversation.
Garcia Criado, 44 years old, has been an intensive care doctor for years and is used to stress.
Now he has suggested to the boss that the 24-hour on-call duty be shortened because he cannot hold out long enough under these conditions.
The government does not want a general curfew
Many Spanish regions are urging Health Minister Salvador Illa to take tougher measures.
The central state has given them the authority, but set narrow limits in the Emergency Act.
A curfew is possible from 10 p.m. at the earliest.
Many regions would like to bring them forward or enter a hard lockdown right away.
This is the only way, they believe, to prevent the health system from collapsing.
Health Minister Illa rejects this.
It doesn't take a change in the law to reduce the number of infections, he argues.
The regions still have enough leeway, for example they could close restaurants.
The Spanish central government is emphatically optimistic.
There are first signs that the curve is no longer climbing quite as quickly, assure those responsible.
Some regions did not take strict measures until mid-January.
They are now beginning to work.
Maybe the summit will be reached by the end of this week.
It is said that two thirds of the infections are now being noticed.
In the ministry it is estimated that this is more than in many other countries in Europe.
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Health Minister Illa: candidate in Catalonia
Photo: David Oller / imago images / Lagencia
Many political observers suspect that the hesitant approach may be politically motivated.
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The ruling socialists have no interest in the health minister Illa having to give in in the dispute with the regions," believes political economist Miguel Otero from the think tank Instituto Elcano.
Illa is running as a candidate in the regional elections in Catalonia in just over two weeks, so he will resign from his position as health minister in Madrid.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Illa has been on television almost every day, and thanks to the »efecto Illa« in Catalonia, the socialists are suddenly fighting for victory.
In fact, Illa was supposed to be the winner as the one who led Spain through the worst of the pandemic and only stepped down when the vaccine was there.
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The socialists don't want that to be ruined," believes the expert Otero.
Another lockdown with a curfew would further dampen Illa's chances.
British virus mutation could be dominant as early as March
The government's strategy is risky.
Because without a lockdown, the number of infections will fall more slowly than in spring.
The British virus mutation B.1.1.7 is the main threat.
It is obviously more contagious and possibly also more deadly than the previously common variants.
The Ministry of Health still believes that the variant has not yet been widespread in Spain.
B.1.1.7 currently only makes up between one and four, a maximum of five percent of the cases, it is said.
Alone: The experts agree that the British mutation could become the dominant Corona variant in Spain as early as March.
The government hopes that by then many older Spaniards will have been vaccinated.
But nobody knows whether the virus can then be stopped with surgical measures.
In any case, Jorge Garcia Criado can no longer understand the government's optimism.
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Before Christmas, regional politicians and the central government did almost nothing," he says.
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And now they blame the individual behavior of citizens for the increase in the numbers." Numerous experts share his criticism: The measures in Spain are always taken too late, those responsible only reacted instead of anticipating an increase.
Garcia Criado sleeps poorly at night, and the closer the next shift gets, the worse it gets, he says.
The doctor has just been shown how to X-ray the lungs of corona sufferers.
Just in case, he says, the need in the hospital gets worse.
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