We are, she and I, watching each other in silence. “Oh shit,” I manage to say.
The aunt. Only 45 years old. Healthy, with no previous health problems. Died. Of Covid.
The conversation is especially sad because we are an ocean away from loved ones. Yours in Minas; mine in São Paulo. Nostalgia and the feeling of impotence are common pandemic symptoms among us, immigrants who, by choice or destiny, leave our country and, with it, part of our family – at least until the next trip.
***
Well, well, in the meantime, the coronavirus is getting its proteins out of Europe once again.
And one of the questions that he doesn’t want to be silent is: is the vaccine really enough to contain a sixth-seventh-ninetieth wave of contagions?
Although, for now, the epicenters of the new outbreak are countries like Austria and Germany, Spain, which has already paraded through the world’s Top 5 covid, has also begun to monitor more closely the pandemic behavior in its territory.
It is true that there are 17 Spains in the Brazilian territory, and comparisons would be simple. But, in relative dimensions, Spain is still the fourth largest country in Europe, and the contrast in the rate of contagion across the region is great.
Basque Country and Navarre, for example, have the highest cumulative incidences in the country in the last 14 days, with 214 and 315 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively.
In contrast, Madrid, which, with Catalonia, topped the national ranking of infections during the first year of the pandemic, now has 93 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (Catalonia, 155 per 100,000, exactly on the threshold established as worrying by health authorities) .
Apart from regional differences, there is a general trend towards an increase in cases. The current national average is 112 cases per 100,000 population, and there was a 19% increase in hospitalizations for Covid in the last week alone.
A certain increase in cases is expected due to the winter season. According to a WHO spokesperson, Spain is being “spared” from more dramatic scenarios due to the good rates of vaccination (79% of the population with the full agenda, and now some risk groups going to a third dose), the use of the mask (although it is no longer mandatory on the streets, many people still wear it, and we are all obliged to use it indoors) and the mild climate, conducive to a longer life outdoors even in cold seasons.
But the European situation calls for caution. Lately, as elsewhere, it is common to see immunologists and technicians from the Spanish government claiming that immunization by the double shot of vaccines may not be enough to stop the advance of the virus.
Gives food for thought: Catalonia has just announced that 64% of those currently hospitalized by Covid are people immunized with the full agenda (in contrast, the national rate of immunized hospitalized by Covid is currently 40%). The region has already completely vaccinated 77% of the population.
The Basques, with 81.7% of the population vaccinated and the highest accumulated rate of cases in Spain, are preparing in court to impose the Covid passport in leisure activities starting next week, as communities like Galicia and Catalonia are already doing .
This will mean the obligation to present a vaccination certificate or negative test in order to have access to cultural activities, concerts and bars or restaurants with more than 50 people.
While the cold is coming and the data is rising, there are people worried wondering what Christmas and New Year’s Eve 21-22 will be like – including commerce and the hotel sector, weakened after a year and 9 months of fighting the virus.
For now, I can only say that the maximum celebration, the epitome of the indispensable tackiness of anus novus – the counting of 12 chimes in Puerta del Sol, the most important square in Madrid, broadcast on national television – is guaranteed.
I mean, there’s nothing guaranteed in this life. But in any case, in some dimension of the existing stellar 18047880897, we will be there in the New Years Eve with the TV on, watching lame-wrapped presenters with their glasses of sparkling wine chattering amenities as we wait with the 12 green grapes in the pratiño – one for each gongada. For luck. Lots of. Which this time it goes.
