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Two emails from me to my cousin V. in Argentina and her reply: Dear V., I just saw curfews in place in BA. I hope you and your family are well. I have has 2 Moderna Vaccines..and go out every day, after being locked down in my house for a year and a half. Yikes. Write if you can. Con mucho Felicidad. Love, Cousin P. Hello P.: how are you so long? You look great unfortunately our Dad passed away on Christmas 2019 at 93 years old. Just before this pandemic from hell. He could never have borne this. Not being able to go out for more than a year, the mask, the cares, the business closed for months... Mom was depressed and then the pandemic started. Luckily, she's medicated well and she's been out a little for a few months. We in my family are ok. Covid free. We take great care of ourselves. In more than a year we only got together once on New Year's Eve with mom. Only 4, with M. and Z. We all cook and once a week we bring Mom food and supplies. On the side of my uncle L. (Dad s brother) and his family, they all had covid. My cousin's husband ( L.'s daughter V.) was the one who had the worst time. He was in intensive care with a ventilator for a month. Now it's fine but with sequels. He is 50 years old. Here everything was more or less well, with care, until Maradona's wake at the end of last year. The government organized it in Plaza de Mayo and everything got out of control. Then came summer, vacations, clandestine parties, and exhaustion. And now, in autumn, we are in the worst stage of the pandemic. And with very few vaccines. They put us in quarantine again but people are already fed up, exhausted and nobody pays attention. Here only the one who wants and who can take care. The vaccines were only for those over 70 years old, health personnel , security, police, teachers, and politicians with their families, their lovers, their friends, etc. I know you have plenty of vaccines. Send some here, please. For now, we will continue to take care of ourselves. It's the only thing that will save us. I haven't seen my friends since March 2020. And winter is coming. It is very cold. But hope is the last thing you lose... I hope you are well and I send you a big hug. Muchos Besos y abrazos!!! Te extraño V. My reply: Carra, Mi Prima V., I am so sorry to hear that your father died. It is a good thing he passed before the evils of COVID befell us all. I see a few news broadcasts on Al Jazeera about how Argentina is besieged by COVID. With all the world begging for vaccines, I struggle to understand why so many people in the USA refuse to take them. Most of these stupid, crazy people are COVID deniers that follow our Hitler-like ex-president Donald Trump. Trump knew how bad COVID is, yet he lied and told everyone it was just like a cold or the flu. And he secretly took the vaccine, while encouraging his followers not to take it. According to a new estimate by the University of Washington, almost 800,000 people in the USA have died of COVID, and still counting. Our government under Trump tried to cover up their deaths and many people who died alone, at home were missed in the count. Right now, because of the vaccines, here in the USA we are almost back to normal. But is an illusion. My heart is breaking for all of humanity - and I'm frightened. India's new double-mutant COVID strain is infecting more than 700,000 people a day and 8,000 Indians die every day. India is on fire with COVID. Their crematoriums are melting. They are running out of wood to ritually burn the bodies. If one country has all these new lethal mutant variants, it's only a matter of time before they infect the entire world. Massive, almost total vaccination is the only way to stop COVID. This New India strain is in five states in the US. I am going to see my brother and friends in New York. My brother lives in the most multicultural part of new york city, Jackson Heights, the epicenter of New York's first infection. He lives on Bangladesh Plaza which is adjacent to Little India. Although I have received both Moderna injections, I am still afraid to visit. I will try to get a third vaccine in New York, surreptitiously, they are now giving them to tourists--hint, hint. I can not believe I will be seventy in July. I was so afraid of COVID I stayed in my apartment for more than a year. I would only go for a walk each night at 2 am when no one was around. I felt like the ghost of COVID haunting the streets. In that year of self-imprisonment, I wrote the first draft of my autobiography. I write every day and am now into the second draft. I can sympathize with the hell you and your friends and family are going through, V. You must be strong for yourself and all the people that love you. Go out as little as possible. Wear two masks. Your government has been failing for many years, but what are they saying about getting you vaccines? I jumped the line by about six weeks, can you? Do you know any friendly doctors who will give you a note that you work/or volunteer in their office and come in direct contact with patients? That's how I got mine. I am mostly healthy, but that is only because of all the medications I have to take every day. I lost two life-long friends who both died of COVID. One in Miami and my friend B., who died here, in Los Angeles. How are your father's brother L. and his family? Are they still sick with COVID, or better now? When was your last Tittero show? Send my love to all of your family. Write again soon. Muchos Besos y abrazos a ti, tambien. P.
May 15, 2021