Two days later, my brother Walid called me to see if the plan of reuniting all the family for Christmas in Berlin was still on.
– Of course it is on. Why are you asking?
– Because of the Covid situation in Germany and all over Europe.
– What about it?
– Well Austria is talking about new lockdown for ten to twenty days. And the numbers in Germany are going up quickly.
– Ow, I wasn’t really following the news lately… been busy… but anyways, we are all vaccinated, no?
– Yes, but many vaccinated people are getting infected. These people usually get a mild version of the virus, but Laure (our mother) is turning 90 soon, and maybe we should not take the risk with her… especially if there is really a fifth wave as i am hearing on the news.
– Damn… Maybe you are right. Let’s take a day or two to decide?
– Ok.
That night, i watched the news for the first time in weeks. Walid was absolutely right: we are at the beginning of a – nasty – fifth wave. It was expected of course, but one cannot but be surprised. Deep inside, we all hoped that this winter will be different with all those who got the vaccine. That was of course an aggravated ostrich attitude, especially when we know that half of the world population is not vaccinated, that most poor countries have less than 5% of their population vaccinated, that worldwide traveling is still on and that the virus’ favorite sport is to mutate.
My next communication with Walid was through brief voice messages to call the whole thing off.
Laure will spend her second lonely Christmas. And she will celebrate her 90th birthday three days later all by herself.
(continued here)