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Catalonia's public health secretary, Josep Maria Argimon, always speaks clearly. Today he did so on Spain's TVE network. While still pending the decision by the Procicat civil protection committee, Argimon believes that "gatherings for ten people could be permitted from December 21st". In terms of the number of household "bubble groups" that will be able to come together, the maximum is likely to be three. At the same time, he doesn't deny the visible evidence: "Celebrating Christmas Day should be avoided." But he is also confident that the situation can be kept stable if Catalans follows the measures specified.

One of the proposals that some families are considering in order to get together is for each member coming for a Christmas meal on December 25th or 26th to take an antigen test. Argimon warns that this is not a valid solution: "Even if they turn out negative, we have to maintain safety measures. There may be false negatives or some people may be incubating the disease. So it's possible to have a false sense of security."

Warning for December

Given the current situation, Argimon says a negative scenario could develop if the current collective effort is not kept up: "Late December or early January could be complicated." And he doesn't deny his fear: "I understand people need to get out of town, but I'm concerned: we have the long weekend with holidays on 6th and 8th December, and Christmas is coming." For now, however, phase two of the Catalan de-escalation plan is set to go into force from Monday 7th.

The Catalan health authorities' major objective is to get through the coldest period of winter: "Our goal is to arrive in January and February with figures looking good. We don't know, but it's possible that the coronavirus will bring us a third wave due to social interaction or the cold, which is a good breeding ground. We have to take advantage of the current moment, when the indicators are falling, and get them to the best level possible. Get through the winter and enter the vaccination period."

The latest data for Catalonia maintains the downward trend for the most part, with Monday being the first day for many weeks with new cases falling below 1000 - with the precise figure being 561 in the last 24 hours. However, the number of patients admitted to hospital has increased again, with 60 new Covid admissions in the last day. Intensive care occupancy is virtually unchanged, from 461 yesterday to 458 today, and the Rt transmission index has flattened out after falling steadily during November: it inched up a notch today to 0.78 from yesterday's 0.77. The outbreak risk or iEPG index is at 196, way down from its peak of over 1,000 a month ago, but still considered "high" until it dips below 100.

What role will pharmacies play?

Argimon also gave some details derived from the current coronavirus situation but not linked to Christmas or the holidays. In particular, he spoke of the role of pharmacies. Catalonia's Pharmacists Association says it is ready to give antigen tests to the population, but the public health secretary has raises some doubts: "Swabbing for tests generates aerosols, and so pharmcies are not the best place to do the tests, but those who want to do it, let them do it. However, what is being proposed are tents next door to the pharmacies".

Regarding the impact of Covid on schools, Argimon is very satisfied. "I hope that for the term starting after Easter we can have classrooms without masks", he suggested, adding the necessary caution as well: "The virus enters via the community and the schools are clearly part of this, so a level of protection must be provided for children." The public health secretary says that in general terms, it has been possible to isolate groups at risk where positive cases have occurred, but the closure of schools has been avoided thanks to mass testing.