Scope and study population
The study was performed in the region of “La Garrotxa” (Girona,
Spain). This is a rural region that belongs to the province of Girona
(Spain) and has a total population of 57,590 inhabitants with remarkable
aging (20% of the inhabitants have an age equal to or more than 65
years of age). The HOCG regional hospital has 136 hospital beds (64 for
acute patient care and 72 for chronic care). Under normal conditions, no
ICU beds are available, but exceptionally, operating room resuscitation
was enabled to attend to a maximum of 4 critical patients. During the
first wave of the pandemic 16% of our healthcare workers were affected
by the disease8.