The city of Mar de Plata, one of the favorite spas of the Argentines in the summer period, woke up this weekend full of people and its night bars to overflowing -without social distance or use of masks-, in the middle of one of the worst waves of coronavirus that plague the country, a leader in infections in the region.
The way in which infections have soared in the country in the last two weeks worries the authorities that they are going through a peak in a third wave, following a historical record of 109,608 cases was registered on Friday, which places the country at the head of contagions in Latin America far ahead of other nations in the region. On Saturday, 101,689 cases were reported.
But that did not seem to be a concern for the hundreds of young people who in the middle of the summer season have already booked and paid for their vacations and assume the possibility of being infected as an unavoidable destination.
“We came knowing that we were going to get infected”tells The Associated Press, Valentina, 19, who goes to the beach with her friends Agustina and Guido, 19 and 18, who consider it almost impossible to avoid the infection in nightclubs.
“At the beach we always try to get more on the side, not get in the middle, where are all the people,” says her friend Agustina. “But already in the bowling alley, impossible”, Guido adds, on the self-care measures that seem to disappear and dissipate in this part of the Argentine territory not so concerned regarding the COVID-19 nor by omicron, the latest and most contagious variant of the virus.
“If you swab yourself, you know that you have to isolate yourself, and we, at least, that we are as tourists, we are not going to isolate ourselves, because we already pay everything to be here … Last when we return, to be with our families once more , if we swab and isolate ourselves ”, Candela, 18, explains to AP that he arrived at the favorite resort of Argentines from the city of Santa Fe.
“The issue of chinstraps and distancing has already gone down in history, especially for these massive social events”, José Ignacio, also 19 years old, summarizes in one sentence, specifying the feelings of many of the young people who gather en masse to enjoy nightclubs in the open air, without masks or any kind of social distance.
“With regard to COVID in Mar del Plata we have a situation with higher infections given the circulation with respect to the new variants, compared to last year” in which we also had a wave, explains Viviana Bernabei, Secretary of Health for the General Pueyrredón district, which includes Mar del Plata. Last year’s wave had the same drawing “Much more flattened because the city was at 50%”. However, the situation of the spa does not differ from the “From the rest of the country”, he claimed. “We have very high peaks, we are stationed at 900 and 1,100 cases a day but in a city where the stable population doubles at this time of year ”.
“There are spikes of contagion, as occurs throughout the summer season, in the age range that goes between 20 and 35 years ”, explains Bernabei, who clearly attributes them to “The social gatherings, the followingnoons, the nightlife in the city, which, well, is typical and characteristic of everything that is the summer season”
“We do not have tension in the health system”, The authority adds, stating that there are only 4 people with respiratory assistance out of a total of 8,000 active cases.
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