One year after we began to design the de-escalation and we repeated the mantra of “learning to live with COVID-19”, the biggest pandemic of this century still resists being dominated, although there are already those who believe they have it in their fist . The real victory, however, is that we are more cautious.

The figures for the last fortnight in Ciego de Ávila justify the relaxation of the restrictive measures with which it has lived for 18 months of confrontation. There are flattering numbers that invite you to breathe better and to return to a certain “normality”, not exactly the same as before.

However, we will agree that the important thing is not so much the words, as their implications. What does it mean to make containment measures more flexible in a context in which SARS-CoV-2 and its most contagious variant continue to circulate? What is normal and what is new in a complex socio-economic scenario, where queues will persist (sometimes due to too much demand and sometimes due to poor organization)? How to maintain the tendency to control and decrease infections when the country reopens its air and sea borders, and increases mobility?

While the health system does its thing, it is up to the rest of society to internalize finally that vaccines protect, yes, but they fail when they are not accompanied by high doses of awareness and discipline. If the province shows a better epidemiological situation, after huge and deadly outbreaks, it is because the immunogens did their part. Of course, we would like to think that we did what was requested, on the other hand, the evidence is not so clear there.

Abdala and the Soberanas are not infallible, much less us. There is always a margin of error and it is necessary to reduce that gap as much as possible, because not only resources and sleeplessness escape, but also life. From now on there will be neuralgic points, let us say schools full of boys with almost two years of dammed energy, work centers with a large staff, hotels for tourism that is so much needed, but that could be a Trojan horse if we do not “listen to the belly". There, everywhere, facemask and disinfection of hands and surfaces will have to be appendages, extensions of each one, an intrinsic part of the return if we want it to last.

Living with restrictions does not mean getting used to the disease putting us in check every two or three months or robbing us of loved ones, one by one or a few. Rather, it is about incorporating hygiene and means of protection in all areas; to banish the formalism in the fulfillment of what is indicated; take care of ourselves and others from responsibility and full conscience.

In this direction, and knowing that community transmission persists, it is convenient to understand that the world, the country, the province, the neighborhood, are not the same, even if they seem so, and that we will not be safe from this or any other virus, from the epidemics of the future, if we do not learn the lessons of this time. They are not few.