Spanish Health Workers on the Front Line Against Covid-19 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for Concord

In the course of its online meeting, the Jury for the 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for Concord, made up of Íñigo Abarca Junco, Luis Aires Dupré, Fernando de Almansa Moreno-Barreda, Viscount of Castillo de Almansa, José Ramón Álvarez Rendueles, Ernesto Antolín Arribas, Antonio Basagoiti García-Tuñón, José Antonio Caicoya Cores, Alfredo Canteli Fernández, Carlos Casanueva Varas, Jacobo Cosmen Menéndez-Castañedo, Sol Daurella Comadrán, José Manuel Entrecanales Domecq, Isidro Fainé Casas, Ana Isabel Fernández Álvarez, José Antonio Fernández Carbajal, Pedro Luis Fernández Pérez, José Antonio Fernández Rivero, Luis Fernández-Vega Sanz, Emilio Ferré Solé, Ignacio Garralda Ruiz de Velasco, Ana González Rodríguez, Jaime Gorbeña Yllera, Alicia Koplowitz Romero de Juséu, Marchioness of Bellavista, Bartolomé Lora Toro, Laureano Lourido Artime, Alfredo Mahou Herráiz, Marcelino Marcos Líndez, Adolfo Menéndez Menéndez, José Oliu i Creus, María del Pino Calvo-Sotelo, Mariano Puig Planas, Gregorio Rabanal Martínez, Matías Rodríguez Inciarte, Gonzalo Sánchez Martínez, Juan Sánchez-Calero Guilarte, Antonio Suárez Gutiérrez, Gonzalo Urquijo Fernández de Araoz, Darío Vicario Ramírez, Manuel Villa-Cellino Torre, Juan-Miguel Villar Mir, Marquis of Villar Mir and Ignacio Ybarra Aznar, presided over by Adrián Barbón Rodríguez, and with Pedro de Silva Cienfuegos-Jovellanos acting as secretary, has decided to grant the 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for Concord to the front-line health workers against COVID-19.

From their respective responsibilities and tasks in public and private health centres and other services, thousands of people have been in direct contact with patients affected by COVID-19, forming the front line in the fight against this disease. With their heroic spirit of sacrifice, assuming serious risks and personal costs, including the loss of their own lives, they have become the symbol of all the individuals, institutions and enterprises facing this pandemic, being recognized as such via constant gestures of thanks and solidarity, not only by Spanish society as a whole, but also on the international stage.

In its deliberations, the Jury has highlighted the importance of projecting that personal exemplarity towards the uncertain future that lies ahead, the embodiment in this group of people distinguished with the Award of all the individuals and strata of society that are waging this battle, and the will to symbolize in them the acknowledgement of those who have been inestimable in the fight against the pandemic in different countries.

3rd June 2020