The soccer and basketball stadiums are packed with spectators. The protocols are strict and whoever macans by lowering the chinstrap receives two or three warnings before risking being removed by security personnel, a rule that not even the “ultras” (a kind of light bully) dare to challenge.
The chinstrap almost always visible is the only element that reminds you that the party is not total. This one, which has a lot of relief after the confinements that were made too long everywhere, is in fact a mirage. The omicron recently arrived in Spain and has already exploded as the predominant variant, displacing the one that until very recently terrified us, the delta. The documented infections amount to about 50 thousand per day, an unprecedented number since the beginning of the plague.
According to the sequences that are now known, between December 6 and 12, 47% of new infections were already by omicron. The shocking progression of it allows taking for granted its current absolute preponderance.
The newscasts and news sites are filled with positive news from notables, from Rafael Nadal to Real Madrid stars and front-line politicians. Little by little, the alarm spreads, and in the informal dialogues, which this journalist remembers until Sunday, when his confinement began, calls for prevention become more common. With everything, Almost no one wants the possibility of walking and crowding to be limited and, much less, for restrictions on night mobility to be generalized, which some autonomous communities are beginning to apply.
The vaccines, experts say, seem insufficient to prevent omicron infections, but they do serve to temper its effects. The high immunization rate means that the vast majority of new cases oscillate between mild and moderate, but little by little the wards and intensive therapies of hospitals are populated as in previous waves. Hospitalizations have tripled in the last week.
As explained by the doctor who treated this journalist, one of the most serious problems that the new variant presents to the authorities is, in addition to its overwhelming contagion capacity, the very mild nature of the symptoms that it generates in people who have received full vaccination schedules. The loss of taste and smell (a draw of attention at the dawn of the pandemic) is hardly detected, the fever has turned into a low-grade fever and the intense sore throat has become slightly itchy. Some rhinitis and a feeling of tiredness too and not much else.
All indications that are very easy to ignore or not properly calibrate and that throw thousands of carriers of the new version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into the streets in a position to spread.
The beginning of the European winter is a foretaste of what, without a doubt, will soon arrive in South America and Argentina. Seasonality (our rising summer) may not hold back the expansion of the omicron for too long given its enormous transmissibility.
A) Yes, what is seen here today must be taken as a severe wake-up call. Everything that is discussed in Europe today (vaccinate more and without rest with current serums, rush their updates, apply sanitary passes, return to telework whenever possible, limit social encounters, reduce the capacity at mass shows, reinforce the use of the chinstraps and hygiene measures) will be very soon, no doubt, the axis of the debate in the homeland that is strange from here.
Nobody wants to return to confinement or to the times when the weak died alone and without even counting on the consolation of loved ones. Making an effort of pragmatism and advancing the clock of the inexorable can avoid greater evils.
Take the above, reader, as an affectionate Christmas wish from an Argentine who writes to you, almost like a letter, while looking at a cloudy Madrid from a window. Homecoming seems a long way off for now.
Source From: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
