User:Blanca.miguel/COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

Multiple explanations have been given for the government's slow response to the pandemic, with scholars claiming failure to predict rising global prices of personal protective equipment and testing kits, leading to low supply during the multiple COVID-19 waves that hit the country. The government also failed to isolate the elderly in individual facilities to prevent the spread of the virus amongst the most vulnerable, as well as lacked available information on the evolution of COVID-19 cases in the country, making tracking more difficult. A system of tracing cases and testing availability was eventually made public by the government in the form of an app called "RadarCOVID". However, critics believe such system should have been launched before the final lockdown came to an end. Instead, RadarCOVID was launched on July 20, with additional multiple including privacy and transparency issues.

Sick leave benefits for employees were cut as one of the governments imposed measures to control the virus spread, resulting in increasing absence at the workplace of up to 20% more than average. Usually, under Spain's labor laws, workers are entitled to at least 60% of their wage by their employee under temporary sick leave. However, the government decided to change their sick leave policies towards recognizing the COVID-19 illness as an occupational disease, benefitting the worker by qualifying for higher benefits under this distinction. The time limit for the application for unemployment benefits was increased, and benefits were recognized for workers who had not met the standard minimum contribution period.

Spain's tourism sector was heavily impacted, with a 98% decline in international tourist arrivals, in comparison to 2019 when it was registered as the second country with the most tourist arrivals in the world. In terms of hotel occupancy rates, only a 27% occupancy was recorded. Spain's tourism sector accounts for 12% of GDP, making this sanitary crisis seriously impactful towards the country's economy.

Bibliography

https://www.globalization-partners.com/globalpedia/spain-employer-of-record/#Sick-Leave-in-Spain

https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/paid-sick-leave-to-protect-income-health-and-jobs-through-the-covid-19-crisis-a9e1a154/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.11927713.21?seq=6#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajt.15983

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31713-X/fulltext

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969720322786

https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/app-radar-covid-rights/43524