shelidonDecember 31, 2021Leave a Comment

Well, it’s been a while since I posted a status of things update, hasn’t it? We’re fastly approaching two years of this shit, so yay to that.

Meanwhile, I got vaccinated (Pfeizer), doubled (Pfeizer again) and boosted (Moderna). As it happened with a lot of people I know, I woke up from the booster feeling as if I had a fist-fight with Godzilla who, of course, kicked my ass. I had the whole deal.

Apparently, side effects are that strong because it takes your antibodies count and takes it through the roof, 32 times what you used to have before. If this is the case, and if side effects are proportionate to the increase in antibodies, boy oh boy am I glad I didn’t do J&J.

So, how is it going around here?
Well, compared to other Countries, we’ve been surprisingly well. It might be because 78% of the population is fully vaccinated, as you can see from the real-time tracker over here, while Germany is trailing behind by 8 points, France is 5 points behind and Countries like Switzerland are more than 10 points behind. Including those who have recovered from the disease and/or those who had just one shot (yet), we’re at 81,39%. Which is not bad at all.

It might be because we never stopped wearing masks, and these days the government reinforced the directive in two ways:

1. masks will be mandatory all winter even if you’re outside and regardless of the fact that you might be the only one in town (and no, this is not about large outdoor gatherings of people for New Year’s Eve because those are banned);
2. while on public transport, in theatres and cinemas and generally indoors, not any mask will go: you’ll need an FFP2.

I’ve been wearing fabric masks all the time, because I believe that all this garbage will kill us just as quickly as the virus, so I had to go hunting again. I found these guys (they’re also on Amazon), the aesthetics of the mask can’t compare with my William Morris ones, but it’s better than nothing. And they are certified. And they can be washed up to 50 times. The things we get excited about, these days, right?

Soooo, how have we been, you ask.
As a Nation, we managed to approach Christmas without any particular drama, excluding some no-vax assholes from Friuli who made a lot of noise. If you remember how the maps used to look like and you take a look today (we have this invaluable site which translates “Which colour are we today?”, something that tells a lot about the instability of the current situation)…

I know, right?

I mean, I’m sorry for Calabria, Veneto and Liguria, I’m sorry for Trentino and Marche, I’m even sorry for Friuli (because they’re not all no-vax assholes) but we’ve been worst. Other countries around us are being worst.

It is true, though, that things are changing fast and numbers are not reassuring. Let us take a look at contagions first.

It looks like things have never been this bad.
And on a personal point of view, I can vouch for that: lots of people around me, vaccinated people as I do not know unvaccinated ones, have contracted it or have been quarantined for a close-call contact. First-degree contact has a mandatory quarantine of 10 days but, as a possible second-degree, I took three tests in the last ten days. And the father of a friend is hospitalized. And two friends have been sick and are currently recovering. And another friend is quarantined. And a colleague is currently recovering too.

But.

Please take a look at deaths and hospitalizations.

The death rate is going up, but with a less steep curve than last time. Meaning that lots of people are catching it, of course: we have the new variant and people including myself, are a tad less careful. I mean, I’ve been to the movies! How wild is that?
It also means that vaccines are working and, though they don’t make you immune, they shield you from the most severe symptoms and generally avoid that you… well… die. Which shouldn’t be bad, right?

All this is good, but it’s not good enough. The other number we look out for is people in hospitals and particularly people in intensive care. I shouldn’t have to explain why, by now.
And those are going up too.
They’re not skyrocketing, but they are going up.
And doctors are worried.

I got my booster on December, 24th and lots of people were rushing in to get their vaccination before Christmas. This is also the effect of more restrictions: basically, you can’t access any kind of leisure facility if you’re not vaccinated, as opposed to a previous situation in which you could exhibit a negative test instead.
People were rushing in to get their vaccinations before Christmas, I was saying, and doctors were worried. Two doctors were talking to each other. “Don’t they know it takes a while for the antibodies to build up? Don’t they know it’s not magic, and they won’t be safe tomorrow morning?”. Apparently, they don’t. And we’ll see the result of people’s behaviour in a few days.

But I’m happy I got my chance to get the booster on Christmas Eve: I brought a basket of goods for the doctors and nurses, who were really surprised, and I was really happy to do so. It’s probably one of the few things that made me really happy, these holidays.

What else can I tell you?
Some things will change next year, from a professional point of view, but nothing major.
I’m really serious about writing fiction, though, and I hope I’ll be able to share with you the things I’m discovering and studying in order to complete this novel. This one we’ll be published. It’s a promise.

Happy New Year’s Eve