Dr Fernando Simón, the visible face of the Spanish health ministry's pandemic emergency team, will be one of the focuses of Spain's Civil Guard in a criminal investigation it is conducting on the authorization of protest rallies and other mass events in Spain on March 8th, which went ahead despite the knowledge that there was a risk of coronavirus infection. Sunday, March 8th was International Women's Day, and as well as several major marches for this cause which took place around Spain on that day, there was also a large far-right rally in Madrid, and a round of major football matches.
According to the digital newpaper El Confidencial, the Civil Guard, in its role as judicial police force, has evidence that Simón had data at least three days before March 8th that showed the gravity of the crisis. However, he failed to take any action regarding the feminist demonstrations that Sunday - which attracted 120,000 people in Madrid - or the holding of a political congress ín the Spanish capital for the extreme right party Vox in an enclosed arena with 9,000 supporters present. The same weekend, as part of the normal round of league football matches in Spain, 60,000 spectators gathered for Atlético Madrid's match against Seville in the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
The investigation is being conducted by a Madrid court and also under the spotlight is the Spanish government's delegate in Madrid, José Manuel Franco, accused of abuse of public office for allowing the large gatherings of those days.
The Civil Guard attributes a decisive role to Simón in the suspension of an religious congress that was to be held in Madrid between March 19th and 21st, a decision resulting from considerations that began on March 5th, three days before the major rallies and activities, when officials of this congregation met with health minister Salvador Illa and Simón himself. The recommendation by the government officials at that point was to suspend the congress, with an outbreak of Covid-19 that had already struck one of the churches involved being a factor.
According to El Confidencial, Juan Carlos Escobar, evangelical pastor and director of the congress, say there was a second meeting with Simón on March 6th, in which Simón provided accurate data on the progress of SARS-Cov-2 in Spain and convinced evangelical leaders that the congress posed a serious threat to public health.
The investigation contrasts Simon's warnings before the evangelical congress with the permissive attitude he took in statements on the International Women's Day marches and other gatherings that weekend, and it recalls that the WHO issued a warning on February 14th about the danger of mass events, which was further stressed on 2nd March when the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control issued an even stronger circular advising against the authorization of mass gatherings.
By Friday 6th March, a total of 365 cases of coronavirus had been confirmed in Spain, and five people had died from the virus. Seven days later, the total number of cases had multiplied by nearly 12, reaching 4,209, and the number of deaths had multiplied by 24 to reach 120, with most of the fatalities occuring in Madrid.