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.