A Communication from Europe
Things are mostly normal in red America, but don’t let that blind you to the madness elsewhere. A message from an acquaintance…
“I have just received my second negative test upon my return to Belgium from the U.K. I must sit-in my house for another 7 days and will be allowed out upon receipt of a third negative test. This follows 3 tests and 10 days quarantine on my outward journey. But of course I am a "germ ridden, unclean person' so of course it's all ok isn't it?
I'm a British citizen (with a home in Scotland) but resident in Belgium. Due to Brexit, travel back and forth between the EU and Belgium has been difficult but much harder for the unvaccinated. It was the U.K. Government who insisted that I took the 2 tests and 10 days quarantine upon arrival - oh and I test before I left Belgium. To make matters worse - and this is the cruelty of this system - my husband who is vaccinated didn't have to quarantine. This of course leads to a feeling of resentment on my part as I've been fit and healthy for the past 2 years - in fact I have wondered at time whether my 37-year marriage would survive this. How many relationships have fallen these past two years I wonder precisely because of this separation of couples into two categories of people? To return to Belgium I had to travel through France (40 minutes in a car). I had to take a test in the U.K. and fill in several documents (swearing on my honour that I was symptom free). An unvaccinated Brit with no residence in a EU country cannot enter the EU at the moment. The EU intends to keep the 'Covid Pass' until 2023 so I cannot see how I will travel freely for a long time. In fact I will probably have to leave a country where I've lived for 40 years as living near my 2 daughters in Scotland is more important. I have lost faith in any government and, although things seem to be easing, fear that it all starts up again in the Autumn. So many people are ok with the covid passes and have become 'adapted' to the masks and being vaccinated without question - very alarming.
The irony is that although it is quite apparent that the boosters are useless, the cuvent Covid Safe Ticket here in Belgium - to visit cafés/restaurants/cinémas expires for those who have not been boosted on 1st March but then there is no expiry for those who are boosted - even although it is clear that the 'useless' antibodies drop rapidly by 10 weeks.
But, hey ho, it's all in the name of science isn't it?”
My heart goes out to your acquaintance and I want her to know that she’s not alone. I’m a Canadian-born dual citizen married to an active-duty US military member stationed in Germany. I haven’t seen my parents in Canada for nearly two years because I wasn’t willing to stay in a Canadian quarantine hotel with my young daughter (who would, considering there were documented sexual assaults?).
As for Germany, my daughter and I have been barred from “non-essential” shops, cinemas, restaurants, and cultural life. We used to be able to do certain things with a negative test but that ended a few months ago. Not only that, but they decided to make double -vaccinated (but unboosted) people take rapid tests to go to restaurants and cinemas. This policy swiftly moved my husband from the “fully-vaccinated” to the “leper”category. Make it make sense.
So, we wait. Hoping that my daughter’s school doesn’t mandate the vaccine and/or that Germany doesn’t mandate it for all residents over 18 because, if so, my husband will be finishing his tour here in Germany on his own while his wife and daughter flee to a state in the US where they won’t be treated like undesirables.
As a couple we’ve been through a deployment, a year-long remote tour, and many lengthy TDYs. Those missed birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, dance recitals, etc…you never get them back. But I always felt that the separation was for a purpose. Duty. Service.
The thought that our family could have to do a year or more apart because of these coercive, unethical, and dehumanizing policies makes me sick.