You already know that the new threat, hantavirus, is transmitted through rodent droppings, and those of us who live in the countryside know that humans are in contact with them all day long. Our cats hunt them (and bring them to us), our gardens and fields are full of them. But those of you who live in the city also have them nearby. There are rats in Plaça Catalunya, but also in the warehouse of the shop that just served you this canned drink you are sipping now. The sole of my shoe has surely stepped on mouse droppings in the subway car I took this morning and it may have carried it to the floor of the bar where I am now writing these lines, where it will be swept up by a waiter, who will arrive home and sit down to watch a series with his feet on the sofa table... They tell us, yes, that not all rodents have the disease, that we shouldn't worry if we come into contact with them, and it's safe, because otherwise humanity wouldn't exist. But do rodents also transmit it among themselves? That not all rodents have it doesn't mean things have to continue this way from now on. Swine flu teaches us this.
The feeling is the same as when coronavirus started. First, newspapers and news reports began to talk about it. Then, they were full of it. At first, it all seemed like an exaggeration. Then, we all learned about the case of a grandfather who died alone, without even being able to hold a mobile phone to say goodbye, or a acquaintance of ours died who hadn't wanted to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, we can do nothing but watch things unfold and start rubbing our eyes with the protagonists of the management. The president of the Canary Islands said no, that he would not let the ship with people in quarantine dock in his ports. Why? Mystery. Absurdity.
