No polling station will remain to be established on 14 February. This is according to the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bernat Solé, who reported on Saturday that 99.9% of the polling stations have enough members and 66.6% have all the members and substitutes in full, data that have led the head of the elections to affirm that "all of the polling stations can be formed". Despite this, the number of people who have presented allegations is growing steadily as the days go by. At this point, more than 35,600 objections have already been received by the Zone Electoral Boards. This Friday, for the first time, the percentage of excuses that have been accepted has also become known, since the High Court of Justice of Catalonia has informed that 23,300 objections have been endorsed by the electoral referees, that is, 65% of the people who have claimed will not have to be at a polling station. There are still, however, some 3,750 excuses that are pending resolution, a fact that means that some members of the polling stations will not have a response before the elections. On this point, Solé stated that in the face of administrative silence, they will still have to go to the polling station first thing in the morning.

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.

If not enough people turn up to man a polling station, the substitutes from other polling stations may be relocated to ensure the vote goes ahead. This is the general criterion dictated by the Central Electoral Board (JEC). After each of the zone boards established their own alternatives, the JEC decided to unify criteria and give a clear order: volunteers are not allowed, but on the other hand, substitutes from other poll stations that have been set up can be relocated. Thus, JEC responds to a request of the Provincial Electoral Board of Tarragona, which asked to establish a joint method for the whole Catalan territory. The final position of the JEC comes after last week the Electoral Board of Barcelona recommended all its branches discard the creation of a volunteer pool and consider the option of relocating substitutes as the most viable way. The JEC agrees with its position and establishes that substitutes will have to wait until 10 am -the deadline for forming the poll stations- to know if they have to be relocated to another poll station in the same centre or to another "nearby" one. It does not specify, however, if substitutes may be relocated to other towns, and simply asks them to vote first thing and wait in case they are finally needed.

More uncertainty surrounding 14-F. The Government explained on Sunday that in the event of difficulties in constituting the polling stations, it is considering the possibility of not making the electoral results public 48 hours later, the limit established by law. This was explained on Sunday by the Director General of Participation and Electoral Processes, Ismael Peña-López, who said that the Government would decide on Sunday, in conjunction with the Central Electoral Board and the parties, whether or not to make the results public at night, depending on the percentage of polling stations that had not been set up. In statements to RAC1 radio station, he indicated that if the volume of polling stations that have to be formed on Monday or Tuesday is significant, voters will have incentives to make "a much more tactical vote" if they already know the provisional results of the elections.

The Catalan Government strives to ensure that the polling stations will be "fully safe" places on February 14, but the pandemic and doubts that the executive itself had expressed until just a few days ago regarding the election date do not help. Poll stations are manned by citizens picked randomly amongst those on the electoral lists. The over 65s are exempted, yet others may ask for dispensation. This Tuesday, Catalonia's High Court communicated that at least 9,109 people have applied for a dispensation. The data is not complete as some areas are still to bring it up to date, but it already represents 11% of the total number picked to man the polling stations.

Jordi has not touched his children for a year. They live in the same flat, have adjoining rooms, eat in the same kitchen and rest on the same sofa. They are very close to him, but they feel him very far away. "They see their father every day and can't hug him," explains their mother, Ruth. They wear masks inside the house, eat at different tables, and sometimes even take turns for lunch and dinner. Ruth explains her children are sometimes frightened of meeting their friends, because they know that anything that involves contact with the outside world can be lethal. "If I catch covid-19, it's a death sentence," confesses Jordi, 56. He has been suffering from lung cancer for four years. A strange and rare type, known as neuroendocrine: the cancer is spread throughout the different organs of the body and Jordi has between 12 and 13 tumours. The disease is chronic. Jordi has lost a lot of weight and every effort exhausts him. "He is no longer the same", says Ruth.