In an interview on Cadena Ser, Daniel López Acuña insisted that, in Spain, 'there are many asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patients.' meaning there's a lot of 'silent transmission' going on. He predicted:
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Over the next 10 to 15 days, we're likely to see it spread to older populations, and we'll once more find ourselves in a situation where elderly people are most affected and experience more serious symptoms.
López Acuña has pointed out that the outbreaks were 'somewhat expected' in this phase of the pandemic, and that it's actually already happening in many European countries.
The epidemiologist emphasized that we shouldn't be so worried about isolated outbreaks, but rather watch out for those that turn into uncontrolled outbreaks and end up affecting entire communities. He explained:
The vast majority of communities have isolated, controllable outbreaks. 75% of the outbreaks in Spain are small and involve a maximum of 10 people.
Acuña also reiterated that it becomes a 'big problem' when these outbreaks spread and lead to situations like the ones we've seen in Aragon, Catalonia, and Madrid:
In these situations, small outbreak containment measures are not enough, and we have to implement far more serious measures.
He warns that we have to everything we can to practise safety standards:
Do everything in our power to take measures that allow us to maintain health safety, even if it means making financial sacrifices, in order to avoid having to go back into lockdown.
