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The spread of the new coronavirus in Portugal is far from symmetrical.
The North concentrates more than half of the cases, but the distribution of infected people published by the General Directorate of Health (DGS) every day allows us to realize that the areas with the lowest population density are, as a general rule, those that best resist the pandemic. Until yesterday, there were 87 municipalities to escape the effects of the virus, registering less than three infected cases, which is equivalent to 28% of the territory, made up of 308 municipalities. With three cases, there are still ten municipalities. In other words, there are 97 counties with three or fewer infected.
The Portalegre district, with around 120,000 inhabitants, is the least populated in Portugal and also has the majority of counties off the DGS list, which only publishes counties with three or more patients. Of the 15 municipalities in the Portalegrense district, 13 are off the DGS list. Only Portalegre (five) and Elvas (eight) have more than three infected people. Still, both below ten. Porto’s district is the worst, with 15 counties out of 100 infected.
For Pedro Simas, virologist at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, the fundamental factor is the contact between people: “Due to their characteristics, these municipalities are escaping the problem of being overwhelmed by a series of large cases of infection in a short period of time ” .
Margarida Tavares, infectious disease specialist at the S. João Hospital, adds: “In smaller lands or smaller districts, what can happen is that the epidemic is concentrated in more specific places, such as homes and health units. A professional it is enough to trigger a set of cases. “
Porto and Lisbon are the two cities with the most cases. Therefore, there is a tendency for the least populated municipalities to have the fewest cases. They have less movement between municipalities, there are no large industrial units and they have managed to prepare the response to possible outbreaks of contagion, such as homes or health centers.
But population is not the only factor. Municipalities that are not on the DGS list also benefited “from being away from airports”, some were able to react before the others to the pandemic and also had the luck factor, says the infectious disease specialist: “Even in low-lying territories density, if If a case appears in a home or health unit, the risk of spreading is great. ” The issue of airports is confirmed by the contagion map. The metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto are the most affected and, to the south of the capital, the most affected region is in the Albufeira-Loulé-Faro triangle.
“There is no animal here to catch us, neither inside nor outside.” Certainty of Alzira Saavedra, 83 years of Minho, given while waiting for a moment in the bakery in front of the Town Hall. “I am diabetic, I suffer from the heart, but I live my normal life. I take a taxi and go shopping alone,” says one of the inhabitants of a municipality that, until yesterday, had zero cases of covid-19.
In Mondim de Basto, you can breathe a climate of confidence, but not a dazzling one because, recalls Carlos Moura, the bakery owner, “at the beginning, older people had difficulty understanding what they were asking for.” Later, the information was transmitted and they “took responsibility” in a small municipality where “the confinement is easier”, he justifies. In the bakery, the movement increases and “there are already whole families” who want to occupy tables as before, Carlos laments, who is proud that Mondim still does not have positive cases.
For Teresa Rabiço, mayor of Mondim, the key to success was “the speed with which the measures were taken”, the cooperation of the parish councils, the IPSS and the fire brigade, because “in an old municipality it would be dramatic to act late”. Awareness-raising actions were carried out among the population, “in a dispersed municipality, with isolated people, but the entire community united.” At Easter, the return of the emigrants was feared, but since the villages are small and everyone knows each other, “whoever arrived was monitored by the joints, the IPSS or the GNR. They were quarantined and the families were respected,” Teresa Rabiço says.
All closed
With the services closed in the town, the cancellation of the fairs and most of the commerce behind closed doors, “it was easier to keep people at home and a line was created to support the supply of medicines and basic needs. People he’s at home without leaving home, “he explained.
Aware that “the pandemic has not passed”, Teresa Rabiço trusts “many people in Mondim” to stay alert. The municipality will distribute masks and visors to the population.
The center of Mesão Frio is not deserted, but almost. A person here, another there, one who passes, another who enters a store. The municipality is small, but that is not what hits the main square of the headquarters. Given the fear of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that stopped the world, but that seems to be far from this land of the Duero. Zero cases, until yesterday.
“I hope this continues,” says Fernando Ferreira, born and raised in Mesão Frio, resting in the shade of a tree on a hot day. He was “five weeks in quarantine”, more “for an infection in one leg” than for the visit to the coronavirus, because he has not yet arrived and “it is good to be there.
On the way to finance, another Fernando, this Teixeira, wears a mask. “People knew how to respect the rules and they stayed at home,” he says, while Ferreira, still with the mask in his pocket for being alone, takes into account “the performance of the mayor, who immediately took measures to protect his compatriots . “.
A lady was protected, along with another and a man, the three with shopping bags, masks covering their faces, fleeing from the reporter, also with their faces covered, who “now we don’t even see people’s faces, nor do they know what to say and besides, we are afraid of everything. ” And room, the three thin people down the street cursing this new way of life and the journalist with burning ears.
The President passed by there. With mask. Keeping the county at zero requires discipline. As required, in early March, “good communication between the entities and the citizens.” Alberto Pereira says that “they even anticipated the government in contingency measures.” And then he weighed up the “respect for them everyone showed from the beginning.” Vinca has already entered the “fourth fortnight of total confinement” in nursing homes, with teams working in “mirror” and “prohibited visits”.
Santa Marta protects
The epidemiological report of the General Directorate of Health yesterday froze Santa Marta de Penaguião. Three cases The mayor, Luís Machado, went to find out. “The three people have lived in homes in another municipality for a long time, but since the fiscal address is still here, they are counted in Santa Marta.” Goodness. In practice, it is kept at zero and the mayor says this is due to “Penaguiense’s good behavior, who followed the measures and followed the rules.”
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