It is getting overwhelming

 Yesterday my aunt died. I wrote about it, but still maintained the hope that maybe, just maybe, the news was premature and we would find out that she had made it. Well, we found out, relayed by information provided not directly to us but by a cousin who informed my sister, that my tía Socorro did pass away yesterday. She was allowed only one visitor, and it was one of my cousins. He came in and witnessed as they disconnected life support, and my aunt stopped breathing five minutes later. She passed away on Saturday, Dec. 26th, 2020, and it hurts.

Well, the bad news continues. It turns out that now, today, we found out that my sister-in-law and one of my nieces came down with Covid. They were having severe symptoms, and they were taken to the hospital, tests were administered, and they came out positive. My brother is in a panic. They, my sister-in-law and my niece, are at severe risk. My sister-in-law is older, roughly around my age (about 50), and my niece is younger (about 20) but obese. These are big risk factors. They have been dropped off at the hospital and my brother is really suffering. I feel terrible, but it does make me refocus from the sadness provoked by my aunt's passing.

Finally, I had another aunt in Mexico who appeared to come down with Covid a few days ago. Her husband (my uncle) passed away one week earlier and, from what I understand, was feeling pain and could not eat any longer. No confirmation was given as to whether it was Covid or not, but it seems to be the case since my aunt became very ill a few days later, and could hardly breathe. My cousins rushed down from the United States to say goodbye to her, it was that serious, by my aunt seems to be slowly recovering. But now, two of my cousins who rushed down there are very, very sick. What could cause so much illness? It had to be Covid.

So, things are desperate. This winter of our discontent, or rather, of our frailty and fear, is tearing us apart. We have to be careful. On top of it, the hope of a vaccine is premature, they are running late in administering the doses and they are behind schedule nationwide. It seems they might not administer them until summer. Think about it, hundreds of millions of doses. But we have to hang on.