Up next in 10
Dr Christoph Semler Coronavirus Update May 2020
796 views
Jan 13, 2025
Dr Semler from Euroclinica in Javea joined Moody for Medical Matters on Thursday morning to give us a GP's perspective on the Covid19 situation here in Spain. Some interesting facts revealed and myths dispelled, and it appears there is a particularly good reason for maintaining social distancing in places of worship... He came fully prepared with mask and all but was still keen on keeping the required distance from Moody and just about stays in shot throughout. Our thanks to Herr Semler for taking time out of his busy schedule. Stay safe.
View Video Transcript
0:00
this is Bay radio so almost at the end
0:03
of May and it seems a long time ago now
0:05
that things have changed somewhat since
0:08
we last caught up with dr. Krystof Simla
0:10
is in here live and if you'd have come
0:13
in a couple of months ago dressed as you
0:15
are it would have been very dramatic and
0:17
I'd have been taken aback but we're kind
0:19
of used to seeing the masks everything
0:21
these days
0:22
um well did you obvious question how are
0:24
you alright I'm fine no complaints
0:26
yeah okay I mean I watched our last
0:28
because we recommend recording this
0:30
again first video of making it in a
0:31
while last I looked at the last one and
0:34
what you weren't to know I mean when we
0:36
when we spoke then there were actually
0:38
no active cases in Spain it was starting
0:40
to be talked about I think one person
0:41
had recovered and there was someone on
0:43
the Canaries or in the belly area it was
0:45
a tourist on the Canary Island and a New
0:48
Yorker as well yes but have you been
0:50
surprised have you been by the how it's
0:52
escalated and the measures taken as well
0:54
very surprised by how many people got
0:59
ill with the illness very very surprised
1:02
the measures I think the Spanish
1:03
government took and as are still still
1:07
taking our most appropriate and to think
1:09
they helped a lot to count the situation
1:10
down and reduce the number of patients
1:13
and unfortunately also of those who died
1:15
from the illness they bear severe and
1:18
buried restrictive but I think it worked
1:19
so you do agree with it yes the long
1:22
term is because there are people you
1:24
know saying it was unnecessarily harsh
1:26
and well they haven't been in Madrid or
1:28
they haven't been in Barcelona I haven't
1:29
been in La Rioja or for example in Italy
1:31
in Bergamo you could argue that the
1:34
whole of Spain was put under severe
1:36
restrictions for the benefit of maybe
1:39
three or four four chi hotspots of the
1:41
illness but we don't know what would
1:44
have happened if it hadn't been like
1:45
that I think it was appropriate to
1:48
severely restrict the Fremen the the
1:51
freedom of movement of us really mm-hmm
1:54
I mean the numbers have still been
1:55
fairly high when you compare it you know
1:57
the rankings if you like for countries
1:59
across the world yes because once the
2:01
virus is there it's there mmm you cannot
2:03
get rid of the virus you can only slow
2:05
down the rate of spread of it okay I
2:08
mean do you agree with the official
2:09
figures service I mean there's all sorts
2:11
of people with there
2:13
conspiracy theories in the light and
2:15
whether things have been put on a death
2:17
certificate as deaths from kobe 19 when
2:19
it may not have been if you any
2:22
knowledge of any of that i know that
2:26
different countries count differently
2:28
numbers are gathered differently and
2:31
published differently what is defined
2:32
one way in france is defined differently
2:35
in Spain or in Germany on the UK I
2:37
assume that certainly is true also there
2:40
is a lag in in gathering and publishing
2:44
the data also you don't always know with
2:47
certainty what somebody died from and
2:50
whether you say I'm sure it was a covert
2:54
nineteen related illness or it might
2:56
have been some other infection that
2:58
looked very similar that is open and it
3:03
might I don't I don't I don't think so
3:06
but in theory it is possible that you
3:08
might be pushed one way or the other in
3:10
when you're not certain when there's no
3:11
hard proof do you think before it really
3:15
came to light and before we knew a lot
3:17
more about it that more people most
3:19
people would have had it in in like the
3:21
New Year and not realize you know
3:23
because everyone was wandering around
3:24
even myself saying I've got this cold
3:26
thing I can't shift it we always get
3:28
colds around more year yeah sort of
3:30
symptoms the will have been cases
3:33
weren't there I'm sure yes they found
3:34
somebody there's material and France
3:37
from December of last year they found
3:38
the virus in of ill people among just a
3:40
sample but a sample of somebody who was
3:43
ill in France from a cold in December of
3:45
2019 last year before anything happened
3:48
in China so the virus all before got
3:51
published in sign up because broke
3:52
before broke out badly in China the
3:55
virus must have traveled already at the
3:57
end of last year from presumably China
3:59
to Europe and other countries as well no
4:01
doubt however the Spanish government
4:04
about two weeks ago published the first
4:07
and quite well-designed survey of the
4:11
degree of having being exposed to the
4:15
illness the prevalence in Spain and it
4:17
was really low surprisingly low only 5%
4:20
of I think 28,000 sampled human beings
4:25
with or without symptoms was randomly
4:27
picked only 5% show sign of having half
4:32
the virus which is really low and much
4:34
much less than was expected which means
4:36
the virus is not really so far spread
4:39
amongst us it was thought to be much
4:41
higher right and what's been mean it's
4:45
it's it there's not been any focus on as
4:47
much anyway on the figures for say flu
4:49
cases over the last you know in flu
4:51
season how would they compared you know
4:54
has there been any sort of confusion
4:55
between the two there must have been
4:57
because initially well the flu season is
5:01
usually end of January February tailing
5:06
off in March there is overlap them there
5:10
has been overlap between flu season and
5:12
the outbreak of kovat at the beginning
5:14
there were no tests and the tests that
5:17
where there were not good bad like that
5:20
they were a fraud of course there will
5:23
have been confusion about determining
5:26
the cause of illness whether it was the
5:28
ordinary influenza virus or the new
5:31
Kabat thing no doubt there was yes but
5:34
there is equally without doubt an excess
5:39
mortality more people died then would be
5:42
expected to have happened at that time
5:44
in that country in that city in that
5:46
state and that excess mortality is due
5:50
to the corporate bodies yeah it was some
5:52
it was unfortunate timing because it was
5:55
just before the lockdown that some of
5:57
the big events started to take place
5:59
particularly in March I know a lot of
6:01
people are pointing out the the Women's
6:03
Day marches that were allowed to go
6:04
ahead in the big cities you know myriad
6:06
Valencia myself I was there not not on
6:09
that not really taking part in oh I
6:12
think it's been long enough yeah that
6:14
was a long time ago I wasn't there for
6:16
the The Woman's Day by she was just a
6:18
coincidence but um things like that they
6:20
did go ahead and that's and that's huge
6:22
gatherings of people when it was really
6:24
you know people are stuck together in
6:27
the middle of Madrid and the government
6:29
is or those are the organizers and also
6:31
gave permission are now being sued by
6:32
the opposition parties mm-hmm because
6:35
well
6:36
but it was nobody really knew did they
6:39
he was serving it in the UK there's
6:41
probably no way they should have let the
6:42
Cheltenham Festival go ahead but that
6:43
happened
6:45
and that's and of course all those
6:46
people then go off and yes and spread it
6:48
around no doubt yes but there were
6:50
people saying it should not be done
6:52
already at the beginning of March fifth
6:54
or eight or March whenever that was
6:55
there already
6:56
we're concerns voiced that this should
6:59
not happen there was awareness of the
7:02
risk involved in getting so many people
7:05
together without any protection the
7:07
government did no but I guess choose to
7:09
ignore yeah I mean did we is it one of
7:12
those things where you get some of these
7:14
things from time to time these you know
7:17
disease is if you like and I said Oh a
7:19
little bit it'll be alright yeah a
7:21
little bit of complacency and never have
7:23
criticized anybody because this is a
7:25
completely new situation we had in 2007
7:29
or so we had the SAS virus and we had
7:32
the Middle East respiratory disease
7:35
illness which we're well localized and
7:37
didn't really affect us in Europe and it
7:39
was thought this will be similar
7:40
unfortunately turned out it was not but
7:43
the degree of relaxed nerd about it I
7:46
think was due to the experience from the
7:48
two outbreaks before which also came
7:50
from China which also involved
7:53
animal-to-human transit of the virus
7:56
which also involved airway illnesses I
7:59
guess the thought was this is going to
8:01
be equally easy on us yes those other
8:05
two illnesses south and mass what about
8:07
your experiences locally because I mean
8:10
when I asked you before you hadn't seen
8:12
anyone with potential symptoms nobody
8:14
had did have any if you've come across
8:16
many cases within your own practice even
8:19
know we haven't not any not one single
8:22
we have been testing now our patients
8:24
for the last two weeks we've got a blood
8:25
test now available and we have been
8:27
testing patients for their antibodies
8:30
we've done maybe 15 20 of those and we
8:33
have not found any single one patient
8:35
who has developed antibodies against the
8:38
cord 19 virus I've spoken to the
8:42
laboratory and they say that they might
8:45
out of anybody in Hawaii who has the
8:49
stun not only our surgery but any dr.
8:52
surgery they might find two people in a
8:55
working day positive for the antibodies
8:57
really out of maybe a population we have
9:00
now of 25 or 26 thousand I also know
9:03
from my colleagues that they haven't
9:06
really for certain found identified
9:09
anybody who's got the illness hmm
9:12
I also had occasion to talk to the
9:16
Undertaker and even they only know of
9:20
three people from Xavier who passed away
9:22
in the hospital and Enya positive for
9:25
the virus which means all in all Xavier
9:27
is a good place to be yeah not for that
9:30
particular metaphor for reasons of
9:32
well-being and good health javi has a
9:34
good place to be and again I think that
9:36
is largely due to severe restrictions
9:38
the government put into into ma until
9:43
into working at the outbreak of the
9:46
illness because people were not able to
9:48
bring it to us sure okay I mean
9:50
obviously we're quick talking to people
9:51
further outside of Xavier but the
9:54
Valencia region as a whole didn't fare
9:56
too badly Oh
9:57
as far as numbers go the community as a
9:59
whole not and again Valencia Capital
10:01
much worse than any other villages in
10:03
our marina Alta even significantly less
10:07
than other communities man comunidades
10:13
in in the balancing community where
10:15
there is more population more changeover
10:17
of human beings more more economy
10:20
running el chip for example and el de
10:23
round Alicante where much worse hit
10:25
because there simply is more interchange
10:27
of in human beings
10:29
yeah I mean that was kind of the reason
10:31
why it was held back I think is if in
10:33
phase zero for yes forever the week then
10:34
Charles it did Burke we our government
10:37
in Valencia is much more restrictive
10:39
again as opposed to for example Madrid
10:41
or castilla-la mancha which is in
10:43
between yes that was some but it should
10:45
be that Monday the whole of the region
10:46
goes through they did because it because
10:48
part of it was held back and it was
10:50
Alicante General Hospital and as you
10:53
mentioned el che so it's getting
10:54
everyone up to speed so at least two
10:56
weeks in phase one before it all moves
10:59
on to phase two they have applied to do
11:01
it so she'll get the decision this
11:02
weekend
11:03
it happened from Monday though so things
11:05
relax a little bit this is a new new
11:08
times we don't know how best to behave
11:10
it's an experiment to into some extent
11:12
see what happens when you do this see
11:14
how far you can go without having
11:16
another outbreak mm-hmm I'm sure if you
11:19
there will be more outbreaks I'm sure
11:21
once the borders will be open once the
11:25
tourists will come once people from a
11:27
treatment from France from Germany and
11:28
from Holland and from Scandinavia will
11:29
come the numbers will rise again yes I
11:32
did actually I did some preparation for
11:34
this this is how I seriously have taken
11:36
this unusual for me to do any prep but
11:38
so I have just got one bullet point here
11:39
second-wave question mark yes I'm sure
11:42
it's going to happen it undoubtedly it
11:43
must happen it the virus doesn't
11:44
disappear it's still there only doesn't
11:47
spread us quickly but it does not
11:50
disappear out of the world that will
11:52
only happen either if everybody has had
11:54
the infection which is unlikely to occur
11:56
or once I've got the Box in mmm-hmm
11:58
which is something I'm really strongly
12:00
looking forward to yes I mean let's talk
12:02
about the vaccine whether it's a bit
12:04
like the flu one changes every year
12:06
because things adapt the virus adapts
12:08
and why are you taking notes yeah so
12:11
will that be the same sort of thing one
12:13
doesn't know we don't know it will no
12:15
doubt it will mutate but most likely
12:17
limitations will not be so aggressive
12:19
yes the particular strain we've got at
12:22
the moment let's hope let's have some
12:24
optimism in that but I think this is a
12:26
particular particularly
12:28
finally jewel virus against assume
12:31
beings and it's unlikely that the
12:34
variation that will come of it will be
12:36
equally aimed by chance of course not
12:39
design against us mm-hmm vaccine against
12:42
the virus now will be good and I'm sure
12:44
that'll be the big relief from this
12:48
small nightmare I'm sure I understand if
12:51
you're not allowed to say but you have
12:52
an easier sort of ideas or theories of
12:54
where it originated from was there a
12:56
leak somewhere I mean the current it's
12:58
been around doesn't it the corona virus
13:00
it's maybe the 60s or I read or it
13:02
certainly longer than other coroner
13:04
Burroughs has been around forever yes
13:05
but these are different strains but this
13:07
particular strain we've pretty much
13:09
confirmed was sure that it's come out of
13:11
China but do you think there was a leak
13:15
in a lab or a know what whatever's
13:16
oh yeah the chain the famous viral
13:19
logical research station Wuhan and the
13:21
man doctor and they didn't tell us yeah
13:23
they didn't tell us no but I read
13:25
articles in in in the medical journals
13:29
and the the biochemists and the
13:33
geneticists they say that this virus
13:37
looks like a wild mutation and not
13:39
something genetically engineered that's
13:41
their consensus it might not be as
13:44
satisfying as being able to point the
13:46
finger at somebody having to continue
13:49
speculating about paths and and funny
13:51
little armadillos but the way they the
13:55
research people look at it is they say
13:56
this is just a transmutation from an
14:00
animal virus that suddenly found its way
14:03
into our human body so we mentioned a
14:05
possibility of a second wave now a lot
14:07
of people are pointing to when it
14:08
becomes winter again but do you see what
14:11
about this theory of it not being able
14:13
to deal with the heat very well the
14:14
virus and it may see killing it off a
14:17
little bit and obviously in the coming
14:19
months here in Spain we nearly there
14:20
already yes well we have to see I don't
14:23
know what not to know how scientific
14:26
that was due to the speculation that
14:28
what you would have to look at the
14:28
countries that have got the summer just
14:31
on at the moment okay Australia is not
14:34
spared of the illness they had it coming
14:36
slowly but they've got the big numbers
14:38
as well now mm-hmm and they are just we
14:40
are heading into summer they're coming
14:42
they're heading into winter they're yeah
14:44
well they're autumn yes and they've got
14:45
it hot now and they still got a fair
14:47
number of cases right I'm not sure the
14:50
heat will protect us from it what I
14:51
would like to say is where there are
14:55
outbreaks it usually boils down to
14:57
people too closely together literally
15:00
opening their mouths is white singing in
15:04
particular and choirs has been found to
15:06
be a hot spot for passing on the illness
15:08
well Matt why is open singing at the top
15:12
of your boys just releases so much
15:15
particles in the air that people
15:17
standing next to you inevitably will
15:19
breathe it in
15:19
when they take the next breath which is
15:21
what happens when people sing in groups
15:22
yeah that's something very important to
15:25
keep in mind it's fair enough to go out
15:27
but we should keep the distance from
15:29
each other we really ought
15:30
keep the mask on if we are in confined
15:33
spaces restaurants also belong to that
15:37
group it's hard to to find your way
15:39
around there but it is a confined space
15:41
and though they might only have two
15:43
people on a table you don't know how
15:44
close the tables are and what the
15:46
distance between the two people sitting
15:48
on the table is obviously you can't wear
15:51
a mask and restaurant well not sensibly
15:53
though no it was exempt from its
15:56
obligatory now to wear the mask where
15:57
you can't keep the two meter distance
15:59
and you'll find most of the shops even
16:01
the bigger you know big supermarkets
16:03
insist on it and it's very very
16:04
important it's non silly it's not
16:06
superfluous it's not exaggerating the
16:08
illness is spread through droplets in
16:10
the air coming out of our mouths and
16:12
noses yeah sneezing coughing shouting
16:14
singing that's how they get literally
16:17
thrown about and that's how we inhale
16:19
them mm-hmm yeah so these why some of
16:22
the theater and entertainment industry
16:24
has been hit and it's shut down because
16:25
they've closed there's an episode of
16:27
Friends I don't know whether you'd have
16:28
seen it with the it's Gary Oldman
16:30
appearing in it with Joey and he's
16:32
really spits he says you're not acting
16:35
properly these scenes unless you're
16:37
really spit it in their face and
16:38
obviously that's the exactly the thing
16:40
we know how it spread and that is it so
16:42
you have to be careful it pays off to be
16:44
careful I really strongly suggest that
16:47
we wear our masks particularly when we
16:49
are inside a building where there are
16:50
many people about mm-hmm well there any
16:52
ups anything else you wanted to add
16:54
while you here
16:55
wash your hands and keep your mouth shut
16:58
no singing and no fun at all in fact
17:00
like yourself in the shower you can sing
17:04
yes all right so well they just could
17:05
have you to give it me time to come in
17:07
obviously a busy chap yes I heard back
17:09
now thanks a lot
#Covid-19
#Health Conditions
#Health News
#Infectious Diseases
#Public Health