Elections did not provoke more contagions among members of polling stations

BarcelonaManning polling stations was one of the main issues in the days prior to the Catalan elections. The number of applications to be exempt from electoral duty multiplied to the point that almost half of the people who had been called up requested a dispensation. Despite this, all polling stations ended up having a president and two members as required by law, and the strict health protocol was followed in order to make sure the vote went ahead. The Ministry of Health has reviewed the incidence that the election day had among the members of polling stations and the conclusions are the same as for the population as a whole: the elections did not affect the number of cases. Of a sample of 18,000 people tested (a total of 27,000 people were needed at polling stations) only 37 tested positive in the following ten days, as reported on Tuesday by the Secretary of Public Health, Josep Maria Argimon.

The council has compared this group with another 18,000 people with similar gender, age and place of residence and has concluded that, with 43 positive until February 24, "there is no significant difference". "I know that they were very rigid measures, very strict and that we cannot apply them everyday, but well-implemented measures make infection very difficult," said Argimon, who also warned that it was "most likely" the 37 infections detected among the members of polling stations did not occur during election day.