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Category Archives: covid

wait, what?

20 Friday Jan 2023

Posted by azahar in coronavirus, covid, sevilla, spain

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

covid

no more masks

This morning I found out that Spain is considering removing the mask mandate on public transportation as early as the beginning of February. The previous government update on this (last December) said that the mask mandate would remain in place until March 2023 at which time it would be reviewed again. And suddenly all these media outlets are shrieking “it’s almost over!” and saying we could all be mask-free much sooner than that. Well, it’s not THAT much sooner (one month) so what is even the fucking point of this? Why the rush? Also, and this is huge for me, I’ve just booked flights to Bilbao the first week of February. Fuck.

Yes, it’s another work-related research trip. And it will be the first time I’ve boarded a plane since… 2019? My first impulse was to just cancel everything, but then I calmed down and tried to work out how I was going to move forward, and keep living, in this new mask-free Spain. Truth is, I really don’t know yet. I mean, I still go out and live my life (as carefully as possible), and I am still doing my tours (though I put a hold on them during Christmas and January to see how the latest variant evolved). I still wear a mask when I am indoors, other than when I’m eating in a tapas bar of course, but then I sit next to an open door or window and I’m not there long. But in shops and especially on public transportation it just makes sense to mask up.

I wonder how all the minimisers and anti-vaxxers are going to feel once they become the “vulnerable” that they disdain so much, which seems inevitable at this point. May not happen overnight but karma is totally waiting for these selfish assholes. Just seriously sad that by the time this happens they will have taken down so many people who actually cared.

covid antibodies

20 Tuesday Dec 2022

Posted by azahar in coronavirus, covid

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

covid, covid antibodies

antibodies

Got the results from last week’s Covid antibody test.
Now if only I knew what it meant..

antibody result

cat medical team on the case!

25 Tuesday Oct 2022

Posted by azahar in casa azahar, cats, covid, home

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cats, covid, sevilla

equipo gatos

Peter went for his annual flu shot yesterday and was surprised when they also gave him his second Covid booster. Came home with no issues other than slightly sore arms (one jab in each) but then today woke up feeling quite poorly, mostly fatigue and headachy, but with really sore arms, so he’s been spending most of the day in bed. BUT NOT ALONE. Look at these guys. Nurse Morcilla took very good care of me while I was going through Covid but Peter here has the whole team! Of course they could all just be wondering why he hasn’t got up to give them lunch…

plus ça change

24 Monday Oct 2022

Posted by azahar in change, chemo, coronavirus, covid

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

coronavirus, covid

novel-coronavirus

I guess it was inevitable that after “getting over” my first Covid infection I’d be expected to stop being so… so… careful? As in, I was asked on Twitter why I would still be doing weekly antigen tests (what’s the point unless you do them every day??) and it has been assumed that I am now “safe from Covid” until I can get my second booster vaccine, now pushed forward 4-5 months (flatmate Peter got his today). So no more need to “live in fear” as I have been accused of doing in the past.

Truth is that the main thing that has changed for me is that I got fucking Covid after being as careful as possible without totally shutting down my life. But everything else remains the same, except maybe a bit worse, and possibly a lot worse. Time will tell.

You see, what happens when you get Covid is that there is an initial acute phase, mostly respiratory, which these days has been largely mitigated by vaccines, so that hospitalisations and deaths are lower than in pre-vaccine times. Lowered. Not eliminated. People continue to die from Covid every day and many who don’t die continue to suffer from Long Covid. But we don’t hear about that any more because governments the world over stopped testing and publishing information related to Covid hoping that this would make us feel like Covid has disappeared. That, along with the big lie that Covid is now “just like a bad cold or the flu” and continued use of phrases such as “mild Covid” have done irreparable damage.

Covid is not “like the flu”, and there is no such thing as “mild Covid”. Since early 2020 much has been published about this novel coronavirus affecting both the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, as is actually quite common with many viruses. Blood clots, strokes, heart attacks were being reported after people had “gotten over” Covid, but we didn’t hear a lot about that. Instead it was spun by anti-vaxxers that it was actually the vaccines causing blood clots, etc. Covid became political very early on in the pandemic.

A pandemic that is still not over.

How this affects me personally in that I am now feeling a bit nervous about the next few weeks coming up since I’ve “recovered”. Because getting over the acute phase is just the first stage and as I’ve suffered from POTS since I was 25 and have some other health issues, like compromised immune stuff from previous chemo, yeah I’m concerned. No, it won’t stop me living my life, but I will continue to live it as I’ve been doing since March 2020. Taking sensible precautions.

For me nothing has changed because – guess what?? – nothing HAS changed. Also guess what? It hasn’t changed for you either, no matter how much you wish it to be so. Covid is not over.

today’s grey

20 Thursday Oct 2022

Posted by azahar in casa azahar, coronavirus, covid, sevilla, weather

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

covid, sevilla, weather

grey oct 20 22

Yes, we are finally getting some rain – woo hoo! Seriously we need it so bad. But it’s still not nearly enough. This week has been mostly overcast with splashes of rain here and there. Anyhow, I get this lovely albeit somewhat melancholy view from my balcony. It’s now been over a week since I tested positive for Covid. A week marked by some initial AWFUL days, then later mostly grey days of being stuck inside. Just like this one. Hope I can go out again soon. But I also hope it keeps raining.

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sevilla tapas on twitter

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ok, just one more… on mar
even more birthday!… on a dangerous woman
sledpress on sunday song – our h…
azahar on wait, what?
azahar on sunday song – our h…
azahar on talking to myself
Anne on talking to myself
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sledpress on wait, what?

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