A warning of what can happen when the health system is overwhelmed out of the European country second-hardest to be hit by the coronavirus after Italy.
The country’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles told broadcaster Telecinco that the Spanish army – which has been brought in to help disinfect areas, including aged care homes, found “some older people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds,” the ABC reports.
The Minister did not say what had caused the deaths and it is understood that the state prosecutor has opened an investigation into the fatalities.
Spain has reported over 42,000 confirmed cases of the virus and almost 3,000 deaths – with 87% of deaths in people aged over 70 and many cases in aged care homes which are all locked down.
One town in the southern region of Andalusia, Alcala del Valle has reported 38 of the 42 residents at its local aged care home had tested positive for the virus, together with 60% of the staff.
The town’s mayor says however that it is not the virus killing people – rather, the lack of oxygen, ambulances and hospital beds.
Many aged care homes had also been asked by their region’s hospitals to look after people seriously ill with the virus because of the overwhelming demand for hospital beds – but there is a lack of ventilators and they must compete with hospitals for medical equipment and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
There are also reports of staff being too scared to come to work, or others becoming infected and leaving homes short-staffed.
It is difficult to imagine such a scenario happening here – but the Spanish surely thought the same.
At midnight last night, New Zealand locked down. When or will we? Should we?
