Ayuso denies the figure of 7,219 deaths in nursing homes during COVID: "It was a fabrication."

MadridFive years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Isabel Díaz Ayuso has yet to self-criticize the number of deaths in nursing homes. In fact, coinciding with the fifth anniversary, the Community of Madrid denied the previously officially recognized figure of 7,219 victims in these centers. "It was an invention by the then minister," maintains Ayuso's executive, who in a statement this Wednesday blames former Minister of Social Policies Alberto Reyero, of Ciutadans, for the alleged error. "The real number of deaths in nursing homes was 4,100," the Madrid government now asserts, lowering the initial figure by 3,119 and asserting that the cause of death "was never to avoid help." "No number was invented," Reyero told Efe.

According to Ayuso's government, the left has set up a "people's tribunal" that "judges what happened in the nursing homes with false data, using families who have never been able to be received by the Community of Madrid." The Madrid president thus responds to criticism of the so-called "protocols of shame," which is the popular term for not referring people to hospitals and denying care to 80% of residents during the pandemic due to their moderate or severe dependency. 109 relatives of 115 people who lived in Madrid nursing homes in March 2020 They filed a class action complaintThe statement also comes the day before RTVE airs a documentary, titled 7,219, about how hundreds of elderly people and grandmothers died in Madrid nursing homes without receiving hospital care. Reyero appears.

After issuing the statement, Ayuso made an institutional declaration in which she boasted about her handling of the coronavirus and the "surgical measures" she implemented. That is, the policy of being much less restrictive with protective measures that led her to clash with the Spanish government. For the Madrid president, the prolonged closures decreed by Pedro Sánchez's government were "abusive," and the Socialist party proposed many measures "without scientific study." The Popular Party president did not hesitate to defend the opposing view of those who accuse her of letting elderly people die. "Madrid was the first to protect our seniors. We launched a network of hospital-based geriatricians to liaise with nursing homes. 232 were medically treated, 12 million units of medical supplies were distributed, and 11,200 resident transfers were carried out.

"Cruel and inhuman" change

While Ayuso has presented herself as a victim of "constant manipulation," "smear campaigns," and "the exploitation of the tragedy" by the left, Más Madrid, the main opposition party in Madrid, has accused her of "lying." "This is cruel and inhumane," the party complained about the questioning of the figures, arguing that "denying hospital transfer to a single person would have been too much."

According to former Minister of Social Policies Alberto Reyero, who is now being questioned by Ayuso, the figures for the number of deaths transferred were obtained from information provided by the nursing homes. This information was sent daily to the Ministry of Health and also periodically to the Ministry of Health and the Prosecutor's Office. Reyero acknowledges the controversy surrounding the number of victims of the first wave due to the difficulty in confirming that they were due to COVID-19 due to a lack of resources. Some voices suggest, in fact, that the death figures could be even higher than previously acknowledged because Madrid "covered them up," as epidemiologist Fernando García López pointed out. in a recent interview in the ARA.

Ayuso once again ignored these voices and demanded in her speech "responsibility, common sense, and respect for the truth." "For those who died and also for their families," added the Madrid president, who is in open conflict with the family associations that denounced her management and to whom described a month ago as "resentful" and "activists."