Spain’s female football referees on frontline of coronavirus fight
The 26-year-old, who officiates matches in La Liga Iberdrola, the top tier of the women’s game, and Segunda B, the third tier of the men’s, has been practising as a nurse for five years at the Rekalde Health Centre in Bilbao.
But as the relentless spread of the virus has stretched Spain’s hospitals to breaking point, Iragartze Fernandez has made her medical role fulltime to help manage the rush of patients.
“When someone arrives with a cough and a fever, my job is to analyse their symptoms, while wearing full protective equipment,” she told AFP.
“The risk of us transmitting the disease is high because we are constantly living next to it. That’s a very stressful experience because you’re always fighting against something you can’t see. You’re always playing at a disadvantage.”
‘I’M NOT SUPERWOMAN’
Spain now has the second most deaths of any country in the world, behind only Italy, with more than 4 000 lives taken by the pandemic, according to the latest figures on Thursday.
