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Spain canceled almost all of its COVID restrictions in May, but now is being pressured to reinstate them in response to a resurgence of cases, particularly involving the Delta variant that hit the Catalonia region and has targeted younger people.
Spain’s rate of infection now exceeds that of Portugal and Russia, and is the highest in mainland Europe, according to an article appearing 8 July in the Financial Times. The number of cases reported between 29 June and 6 July was 158 per 100,000 people, almost triple what it had been the previous week.
(Note the “mainland Europe” qualifier; two island nations have more cases: the U.K. reports 267 cases—chiefly the Delta strain—per 100,000, and Cyprus leads the pack with 424 per 100,000.)
Those Carefree Youngsters!
Spain’s most dramatic increase has been in the 12 to 29 yr. old age group, which is testing positive at 20 times the rate for those over 70. The Spanish government attributes this to widespread social gatherings—citing outdoor drinking parties where young people share bottles—and to many young people traveling about the country on vacation.
TRENDPOST: Absent in this and other mainstream media articles relative to the Delta strain hitting the young are the facts as detailed in this and other Trends Journals… the recovery rate of people 1 to 20 years old is on average 99.996 percent. Yet, the “case” rates are amplified to sell fear while not a peep from the Presstitutes about the insignificant death rate in the “young” age category.
The FT article cites its own research, based on Spanish government data, that indicates that the Delta variant is responsible for some 30 percent of the new cases, and is expected to be dominant by mid-July.
Safe for Tourists?
Summer is critical to Spain’s tourist industry, which accounts for some 12 percent of the nation’s economy. Their government expects 2021’s tourism revenues to reach half the pre-COVID 2019 level. Spain’s tourism minister said his country is a “a safe tourist destination” because some 41 percent of its population are fully vaccinated.
However, E.U. guidelines have now classified Spain as “red,” meaning that travel to and from is “discouraged.” But an epidemiologist at the Autonomous University of Madrid is quoted as not believing that the Delta variant and the higher infection rates will be “a game-changer” either in Spain or the U.K., citing that the increase in cases does not correlate to a higher rate of hospitalization.
And although there is no media mention of increased death rates, as we noted on 29 June in “SPECIAL REPORT COVID WAR 2.0: THE ‘DELTA’ BLUES,” despite the Delta strain being less dangerous and less lethal than COVID-19, politicians and Presstitutes continue to describe it as “deadly.”
Portugal Going Down
This past Saturday, Portugal’s government imposed draconian COVID rules in municipalities with high virus infection rates. Anyone wanting to dine indoors will have to have a vax passport, a negative virus test and/or proof that they had the virus but recovered. Tourism accounts for some 15 percent of Portugal’s GDP and the sector accounts for nearly 10 percent of the workforce.
Spain and Portugal both reject the notion that tourism from the U.K. is behind the rise in Delta cases. U.K. tourists seeking to enter Spain still have to test negative or prove they’ve been vaccinated. Portugal believes that its high rate of Delta infections—now at 70 percent and increasing—is traceable to workers from the Indian subcontinent.
Last Thursday, France’s secretary of state for European affairs told its citizens to “avoid Spain and Portugal as destinations” because COVID-19 infections are surging.
Over the weekend, according to SchengenVisaInfo.com, as a result of rising cases, several European Union Member States have imposed stricter entry restrictions on arrivals from Spain.
TREND FORECAST: Yesterday, France imposed new restrictions that will further damage its economy and adversely hit the tourist sector. French President Emmanuel Macron declared that only those who have been jabbed and/or recently tested negative for Covid-19 will be allowed freedom. Those who do not meet the criteria are forbidden to go to bars, restaurants and malls in France starting next month.
The unvaxxed will not be allowed on trains, go to theaters or concert halls, take a domestic flight, play at amusement parks, visit the sick in hospitals and the elderly dying in nursing homes.
The French Government declared that vaccinations are mandatory for all health workers and anyone refusing will be fired after 15 September.
To date, some 40 percent of the population are fully vaccinated while 53.1 percent have received one jab.
President Macron said there will be a vaccination campaign for high school, secondary school and primary school students and that he wanted to achieve a 100 percent vaccination rate across the country… and when that number was hit it would be signal “a matter of our freedom.”
And today, Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German people to get vaccinated because “The more people are vaccinated, the more free we will be again, the more freely we will be able to live again.”
In the New ABnormal, “Freedom” now means that citizens of Slavelandia must do what the government tells them to do in order to attain limited basic human rights.
Indeed, you now have to give up your freedom to be free. Thus, we maintain our forecast for strong anti-vax/anti-establishment political movements.
TREND FORECAST: As more restrictions are imposed on society to fight the COVID War—on Friday the Netherlands imposed restrictions on nightclubs and music festivals—the further European and global economies will sink.
TRENDPOST: As we noted on 29 June in “SPECIAL REPORT COVID WAR 2.0: THE ‘DELTA’ BLUES,” while there is no mention that the Delta strain is less dangerous that COVID-19, it continues to be described by politicians and the media as “deadly.”
And as we have continually noted, the PCR tests that tally up “cases” are inaccurate. Yet, these facts are continually ignored and instead, “cases,” and not COVID deaths are being reported as the new treachery. Indeed, the Trends Journal has been reporting and documenting for months the flaws of PCR tests. Here are some inks to previous articles:
COVID GOLD TEST PROVES TO BE “WORTHLESS”
PRIMARY COVID-19 TEST: “ERRORS AND FLAWS”
LEGAL RULING IN PORTUGAL: PCR TEST FOR COVID IS FLAWED
FLAWED COVID TEST RESPONSIBLE FOR “MASS HYSTERIA”