Puzzling but reassuring

WITH a cumulative coronavirus rate of 67.6 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants, Almeria province’s Covid rate continues to fall.

This is in direct contrast to Andalucia’s average of 177.6 cases, which is well above Spain’s 98.78-case average.

It also differs from Almeria’s rates during the pandemic’s early waves when it was less badly-affected but suffered more in the third.

Some medical experts attribute Almeria’s improved Covid rates to the climate although Jesus Aguirre, who heads the Junta’s Health department, put forward another theory in a recent Canal Sur interview.

“Almeria’s incidence rate is below 70 while Huelva’s, which had always been exceptional, is 280,” Aguirre pointed out.

“Why is the rate going down in some communities while in others, like Andalucia, this has been so much harder to achieve?” he asked.

In places where the pandemic previously had a greater impact, more young people developed natural antibodies, the Health chief suggested.

“Perhaps young people in some places are now more immune while in other zones like Huelva, where the virus had less impact, they have lower immunity,” Aguirre added.

“But this is only a possible diagnosis, as there is no scientific reasoning behind it,” he stressed.