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Keeping a healthy distance during St. Valentines

The call not to hold parties or meetings continued throughout the past year, but thousands of capital residents little by little resisted obeying

Escrito en LSR MEXICO REPORT el

Claudia Sheinbaum, the head of the Government of Mexico City, announced what lovers of love and those aware of covid-19 already feared: that joint meetings on February 14, Valentine''s Day, will not be possible.

Before the pandemic, many couples ended the celebration in a private, intimate act offered to the god Eros in temples installed as capital hotels. Prior lovers will go to a restaurant to load energies, go dancing and show off the dancing skills to reinforce the conquest. Some more uncomplicated dates used to go to the movies to watch a romantic film, but in all cases, these places were full of people arrowed by Cupid or about to be.

The most clueless went to shopping centers to buy the album with the songs that will touch the heart, a teddy bear, chocolates, perfume, or a garment the loved one presumed before everyone. Others went to flower shops for a bouquet, no matter how expensive they sold.

Even lonely hearts also went to those places to dream that one day they will be able to celebrate Valentine''s Day or to lick their wounds from past loves.

NO PARTY

The pandemic came to fragment this and other celebrations so worth celebrating and forged year after year.  Celebrating them means further risking more Sars-CoV2 infections in CDMX, where two out of 10 deaths occur per covid in the country. The head of government''s calls not to celebrate because people are at risk of becoming infected, infecting others, and worst of all, putting their lives and their loved ones at risk.

"Here we saw it in the week from 24 to 31 (December), which represented a significant increase in the number of hospitalizations in the city. On February 14, no party, no family reunions until we are in better conditions to celebrate as a family since we are all vaccinated, " explained the Head of Government. Every week asks not to hold meetings, and every week her orders are disobeyed.

BAD CALCULATION

The problem is we calculated that by now, the pandemic was going to be under control. This taught us that our rush does not correspond to reality.

When it started, we thought we would get out of the situation in two months. That is why most of them were so obedient to stay home, willing not to meet their family, and even do some activity that they would not have done otherwise.

The Sana Distancia Day started on March 20, so it seemed logical and not so painful to postpone Mother''s Day for a few weeks in May. A small sacrifice. Sheinbaum herself called not to celebrate the day on May 10 but proposed that it be July 10, two months later. Meanwhile, she suggested congratulating moms with video calls, by phone, voice memos, or messages.

There will be time to celebrate them

And although some held family gatherings to celebrate mothers, the truth is that restaurants, flower vendors, and gift sellers saw their profits shrink.

For Father''s Day, it was the same.

RESISTANCE

The calls not to hold parties or meetings continued throughout the past year, but thousands of residents of the capital little by little refused to obey. They do them on terraces, on the street, in bars that seem closed, in rural areas where they use the patron saint of their church or Christmas as a pretext.

We saw dozens of tweets and Facebook pictures during the Christmas season, which showed family groups gathered very happy, without face masks, with the Christmas tree in the background. Unfortunately, afterward, we saw messages to inform that a relative had died or become ill.

The party dynamic was stretched to the New Year, and then some could not resist meeting with family members to split the "Rosca de Reye"s and where the additional prize was a contagion of covid-19.

Now it''s the lover''s turn who will not be able to celebrate. But it will not cost them work. They know that any carelessness can lead to contagion. That''s why most use a condom.

Traducción: Valentina K. Yanes