A week ago, Basque Government Health Advisor Nekane Murga explained in statements to Deia and El Correo that until then 150 cases had been recorded among Basque public health professionals. As we know this Sunday, there are currently 918 positive workers in Osakidetza, which means 768 new cases in a week.
The Department of Health of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa has reported that so far 14,071 tests have been carried out, of which nearly 3,000 have been carried out on Osakidetza personnel at special risk.
However, other factors may be behind the increase in positive results by Osakidetza staff. In particular, insufficient tests have been carried out in the initial phase of virus spread. Tests have started this week for health care professionals who had symptoms and the number of positives is likely to have increased as a result.
Previously, those who had symptoms have stayed at home performing the quarantine as a preventive measure, but the positive ones have not been confirmed. So, the fact of the 150 infections that Murga gave last week, probably, was too optimistic given the real situation.