Just picked up a months supply of Combo rapid tests (Covid/FluAB/RSV) for me and Peter. Covid cases are spiking here, friends in the UK have been testing positive (and getting very sick) and so what the heck. In any case I’ve been testing weekly for Covid (every Wednesday morning!) for the past four years. You know,  just in case, as I have known several people who tested positive while asymptomatic. Aside from the weekly test I also test if I’m feeling a bit “iffy” or before I travel. Why do I do this? Because if I tested positive with having a highly-infectious Bio Safety Level 3 air-borne virus I would STAY THE FUCK AT HOME so I didn’t infect anyone else. I mean, you would too, right? Oh wait… you wouldn’t want to mess up your travel plans or miss that special event because, hey, your symptoms are “mild”. Or perhaps you’d prefer not to know if your out of season “cold” and “allergy” symptoms, a sudden gastroenteritis episode, that pesky 100 day cough is actually Covid so that you can pretend you’re not infectious and then keep going about your business as usual while not caring about anyone else.

Before I go further… if you happen to be a Covid denier or minimiser you may as well fuck off right now because I don’t want to hear from you. I’ve heard it all before over these past four and a half years and you make me sick. Literally.

To recap… the Covid-19 illness is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As mentioned earlier, this is a a highly-infectious Bio Safety Level 3 air-borne virus that is often deadly and, when it isn’t fatal, still fucks your body up in all kinds of nasty ways. Even if you don’t happen to drop dead of a stroke or cardiac arrest, there’s also Long Covid, which can debilitate you for life. Vaccines have gone a long way in preventing out and out DEATH during the initial infection stage but in terms of actually preventing catching this fucker, it’s really about 50/50 (not unlike many other vaccines). That means… we have to be careful.

How can we be careful? Well duh. Put on a well-fitted mask when you are in a crowded situation (even outdoors) and especially when you are indoors or using any kind of public transport. AND STAY HOME WHEN YOU ARE SICK. I was so grateful that Spain upheld their mask mandate on public transport and in health centres… until February 2023. Then my heart broke a little. Because putting on a mask is one of the most simple yet effective things that ALL of us can do. Don’t get me wrong, I actually hate wearing that thing, I get claustrophobic and sometimes start to panic. But I do it. Always on public transport and in health centres (you know, where all the sick people are!) and also in other crowded places.

Something I am still very grateful for is that after a couple of months of price-gouging in early 2020 the Spanish government set the price for Covid rapid tests at 2.94€ and – so far! – this has not changed. These days the tests have been improved and include testing for Flu and RSV. This is the main reason I am able to test weekly. Imagine if the tests cost 20€ each or weren’t easily available where I live. But at 12€ a month? Yeah, I can do that.

As the Covid booster shots are meant to specifically target the variant going around at the time (same goes for Flu) I was a bit disappointed there was no spring booster here (it was available in the US). Studies show that immunity wanes after six months and our latest shots here were in Oct-Nov 2023. But unlike with Flu, Covid is NOT seasonal. That means that a seasonal Flu shot makes sense because that’s when Flu happens, but Covid is happening all over the place all the time. And so…?

Clearly we are being denied honest information about this ongoing pandemic, which is not over no matter what the mainstream media tells us, or how much you might want to wish it away. They tell you what you want to hear, so that you can go about your lives guilt-free and continue to consume and consume, and then consume some more. As for those who end up dead or disabled… collateral damage.

Normally I skirt around all this crap because I don’t tend to be very political (other than in my head) but Covid changed all that. I saw people suddenly not giving a goddam about anyone else because they WANTED TO GO ON HOLIDAY (this was the summer of 2021). Later it became even worse, throwing the so-called “vulnerable” under the bus because the “healthy people” thought they were somehow magically immune. Well guess what… they were wrong.

This is what I don’t get. Putting on a mask in public places… why is this an issue? Sure it’s a small thing but it’s also a big important thing because if everyone on your plane from the UK/US to Spain had been properly masked up you probably wouldn’t have that mysterious lurgy now. And you wouldn’t be infecting the fuck out of everyone during your holiday and when you get back home.

I am often criticised by people saying that I am out and about a fair bit, I travel, I attend events… so who am I to talk about mitigations. Well, simply because it’s not an all or nothing situation. When you can do something, anything, to make a difference, then why not do it?. I test regularly, I have a hepa filter at home, I mask when I can (obviously I can’t when I’m working, but I try to sit near an open window or door) and I stay home when I’m not feeling well. I know I could be doing more but when I see most people doing nothing I honestly despair and that doesn’t encourage me to try harder.

Anyhow, maybe being on staycation this summer will help see me through this most recent Covid wave. Fingers crossed. How’s your summer going?