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The severity and impact of COVID-19 have not yet been curbed in Spain, but are slowing down in the Valencian Community

The COVID-19 pandemic threat has put every country in the world on high alert. The rapid spread of the pandemic, its consequences on the health system and the strict confinement measures that disrupt economic activities have all put at risk the globalized world as we know it. To assess the effects of the pandemic on population health and to try to control the negative economic effects associated with it, tools are needed to monitor its evolution in different territories. To accomplish this, the Ivie has developed three synthetic indicators that focus on the severe cases and allow to assess the severity and impact of the pandemic and to study its evolution, giving a regional comparison of the situation.

Despite the limitations in the information available, the indicators present a comparison of Spain and the Valencian Community as of 19 March 2020 onwards. The results for Spain show that at first the severity of the pandemic drops and then rebounds, but the opposite happens in the Valencian Community, although in both cases the numbers are currently somewhat below the initial ones. In addition, the gross impact resulting from the number of deaths and hospitalized and cured patients in Spain has strongly increased, but 17% less in the Valencian Community. The net impact takes into account that cured patients no longer suffer from the disease and, therefore, the indicator becomes stable and decreases when the number of hospitalizations reduces. Since the beginning of April, it has stopped in the Valencian Community, but it is still increasing in Spain.