Corona in autumn 2023
In the fourth year of Covid: The new “normal”
© michaelheim / Adobe Stock
Our immune system is one thing. The other thing is our head, which is still pretty confused in the fourth year of Corona. Like Daniela Stohn’s.
The new German wave
It starts again. I get messages on WhatsApp the day after a party: “I’m sorry, but I’m Corona positive.“My son calls me and complains about his brother because he doesn’t want to be in the same room with him – even though he just sniffles a little. He in turn complains to me via WhatsApp about how inconsiderate the other one is, just like that without a mask hanging out in the living room.
My spontaneous reaction: I can understand that. I don’t want to get infected either, I hate not doing any exercise and lying around exhausted, it makes me irritable. And then, after thinking for a moment: We’re still pretty disturbed. The pandemic has made us hypochondriacal sensitives.
What the pandemic has done to us
Just: How bad is that? I ask a friend who is a family doctor. She has observed that many people are behaving differently since the pandemic. Your sister, for example, who currently has Corona, isolating herself in the basement and only comes up with a mask when no one is around. “Many people are afraid: that the hospitals will be overcrowded again, that there is a threat of a new lockdown or that Long Covid will remain,” says my friend. “I see people alone in the car with masks. And who has used disinfectant before?” Their explanation for this behavior: During the pandemic, a lot of information was provided, if anything too much, and this fueled panic. “And then there was no good return to a new normality – and what exactly that could look like: when and for whom wearing a mask really makes sense and how we protect ourselves sensibly from viruses and bacteria. For example, by washing our hands thoroughly.”
I feel caught. I still carry around a mask in my wallet (pretty gross when I think about it) and a disinfectant gel in my bag. In general, I use every disinfectant spray that is available in public spaces. I ventilate at home constantly. Avoid shaking hands, which unfortunately has not gone out of fashion. I take vitamin D, zinc and selenium and am thinking about getting a booster, even though I don’t belong to the risk group.
What does a cold or another corona infection matter, I hear my friend say. He’s much more relaxed than I am. I kind of envy him that Eris and BA.2.86 – the new virus variants that have long since arrived with us – don’t worry him much. And still I think: Please don’t!
Longing for the old nonchalance
When I get home from training, I sneeze as I open the door. “Do you have a cold?” the child asks reproachfully – no “Hello”, no “Nice to have you back”. “No,” I say, “house dust allergy.” And think: Things can’t go on like this. It is no longer normal when we lose loving interaction with one another. Respect and sensible protection against diseases and pathogens is good, but virus phobia is not. We need to talk. I also keep the mask on…
BRIGITTE fitness editor Daniela Stohn wants their pre-pandemic light-heartedness back: without panic about viruses, without excessive distancing and insults.