Cristina Hodgson
MORE than 1,100 health professionals have contracted coronavirus in Malaga since last March.
The last official count on November 27 tallied a total of 1,113. And, according to the Nursing Union (SATSE), in the last month, positive cases have increased by 33% in the province.
Furthermore, there are currently 136 professionals on sick leave due to coronavirus and another 81 in preventive isolation.
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Due to the alarming numbers and continual rise of health professionals falling victim to the virus, SATSE has called on the Andalucian Health Service (SAS) and the Costa del Sol Health Agency to provide more protective masks, the FFP2, to these professionals.
In an official statement, SATSE has said that “many health professionals do not have the maximum protection in their daily work, having only surgical masks at their disposal”.
The union points out that a while a surgical mask prevents the spread of droplets, it does not however protect from aerosols, liquid or solid viral particles suspended in air, each with the potential to infect others nearby who breathe them in, the case if masks do not fit correctly.
There is now growing evidence that airborne aerosols carrying the coronavirus may play a major role in spreading COVID-19.
According to SATSE the Andalucian health administration had 3,666,748 FFP2 and 456,285 FFP3 masks at the beginning of December.
“This material is useless in the warehouses while contagion continues to grow among health workers,” a spokesperson for SATSE said.
