Chronicle of a confined Christmas

The Most dystopian Christmas of the modern era has developed into a sort of chessboard in which the covid has been gobbling pieces without much discretion. If before they were distant acquaintances, in this sixth wave of the pandemic, a veritable tsunami of contagions, positive and confined they are much closer. Brothers, cousins, friends, the upstairs neighbor. Or at home itself. Has touched improvise, nullify, adapt or go back to the happy ‘zoom’ to mask the distance. This is how the parties have started those chosen by the coronavirus who, fortunately, are not in a hospital.

Josep is 11 years old and his parents, not without mediating a long debate, they decided to go to school the last three days of the term. until the inevitable happened: a positive in class and 10 days of confinement. The boy’s PCR was negative and the antigens of subsequent days followed the same path. After three days in the room, the night of the 24th was spent as a family, at a certain distance, with mask. They bit the ‘uncle’ and on Christmas morning he has opened the presents with his brothers. Always with the mask on. “Keeping him locked up seemed worse than take the risk“says the mother.

Child shelter

Miguel and Marta have had worse with their two children, 11 and 9 years old, both positive since the 24th in the morning. Beyond having to lift all planned plans, the few who still stood, have had to turn the room of one of them into a air-raid shelter, with all the essentials so that they only had to go out to go to the bathroom. Neither Christmas Eve nor Christmas. Parents, as in the singles time, they dined alone, with some impromptu toast with the children on the other side of the half-open door. To make matters worse, Guillem, the oldest, tested positive when he was in the twilight of 10 days of confinement for a infected in his class. Start over, but now with the little sister.

The bad luck has been primed with Toni and Ana, who they live in holland and they have come down to Barcelona to spend the holidays with his family. On the 24th they had dinner with the parents and a sister. In total, 12 people. All good, but the morning of the 25th, the brother-in-law marriage He has tested positive for antigens and everything has been blown up. The fluttering of the butterfly in covid version: they are left without flying to Andalusia on the 27th, where Ana’s family lives; grandparents have to cancel the trip to the united states, where the third child resides who they have not seen since before the pandemic, and those infected are left without all their planned plans. All wrong. “And of pretty bad mood“admits Toni, who tells that they did not antigens the day of dinner because there was no way to find tests in the dozen or so pharmacies they visited.

Plan B

Related news

Jordi, father of three and husband of Maria, tested positive on December 22, just landed from a work trip. They decided to act quickly on the premise that children could not miss these days so special. Not having been in contact with the little ones, there was a somewhat painful alternative: Dad packed his bags the same day and went to a house that the family has in the Montseny. Mom did stay with him for a couple of hours but he negative in PCR and later antigens, so she and the three children have been able to maintain planned dinners with grandparents, uncles and cousins. While Jordi lives a kind of spiritual retreat, with the fireplace, pending reading and good music. “I’m not going to fool you, although I would rather be with my family, it’s not so bad either“he maintains, with mild symptoms like some fever and a slight backache.

But not everyone takes it the same sportsmanship. On social media, for example, it is easy to find profiles of people who share your sadness for having to live these days without the company of their own. People who have tested positive, who do not require hospitalization, and who have had to lock themselves in their homes until pass the 10 days of rigor. Like Andrés, who works in Barcelona but his whole family is in Madrid. “It was very hard talking to my parents and siblings on Christmas Eve, it is the first time in 35 years that I have not spent this day with them.” He cried and felt bad, without any reason or guilt, because he has always followed the sanitary standards and is vaccinated. “I don’t know where I got it and I prefer not to think about it. The truth is, I’m looking forward to the parties. ”