The epidemiological scenario of February 14 will be better than expected by the Catalan administration. The Health Department reported on Friday that it calculates that on Sunday there will be 96,000 people in quarantine, between those infected with covid and their contacts, instead of the 130,000 initially foreseen (the Catalan ombudsman spoke of a maximum of 200,000). Even so, the Secretary of Health, Marc Ramentol, has called for caution so that the health system remains alert for the effect that the British variant may have. Despite the improvement of the situation, Ramentol has been critical of the fact that the infected have to turn up to vote. "As a doctor I recommend not breaking quarantine rules," he said, although he admitted that it would be necessary to "think hard" because this would imply violating the right to vote. "I am 38 years old and I have never seen an election in which 90,000 people are told that they cannot vote," he said. The number of infected and confined is better than expected, but the occupation of ICU beds remains alarming, as it is predicted to stand at 650 over the weekend.

RIDICULE The epidemiological situation in Catalonia - with all its derivatives: welfare, schooling, socioeconomic - is no worse, and in some respects even better, than in Spain as a whole. But what the Catalan government does, or the local councils do, is of no use; because the idea that this country of ours is ungovernable and does not deserve even the misery of autonomy is well-established. All we have to do is to listen to the people of order, with the choral support of those who quote Tarradellas every day: "In politics you can do anything but make a fool of yourself". A quote that in the Spanish case is sadly true: the episode of Quim Torra's banner, for some, is more scandalous than the fact that the Electoral Board dismissed him, not caring about what the electoral vote wanted. For a certain Catalonia, ridicule cannot be tolerated, but the hijacking of democracy is tolerable. This is how it is.