COVID-19, Bavaria, Lockdown
Since Saturday, a somewhat softened lockdown has been in effect in Bavaria, Germany. Saturday evening I had to go shopping once. And to be honest, the whole thing has something of an apocalyptic mood.
The toilet paper was empty. The noodles almost too. Yeah… That didn’t really bother me. I was quite positive at the beginning of this epidemic and worried relatively little. But in the meantime it also bothers me with my 36 years. No, I am not preoccupied and would probably survive it if I were infected. But do I want to get infected? No, of course not. I also do not want to infect my children and my wife.
Back to grocery shopping. So I grabbed a shopping cart and went to the supermarket. Most of the goods I wanted was gone. Okay, even if it was Saturday night, I’ve never seen it like this before. The few people who went shopping with me made me feel extreme. Most of them looked at me very critically. One ran away from me in a virtual panic when I got too close. Nobody greeted me. At the cash desks there are now stripes on the floor that tell you how much distance you should keep from the person in front of you. The cashier sits behind a thick Plexiglas screen.
What is scary most of all is the behaviour of other people. Some are quite relaxed, just go shopping. Some are panicky, extremely careful. This goes from mouthguards to gloves and even getting to safety if you don’t keep a certain distance. And that’s exactly what I find hard to do myself. You don’t know it like that. And suddenly this invisible enemy is everywhere. You look at your unprotected hands with which you have touched the shopping cart and numerous goods, money and so on. What do I do with them now? Wash them? Disinfect them? Cut them off?
All this even though Bavaria still lets us go for a walk. Or do sports outside. We’ll see how long it stays like this.
COVID-19, Corona, or whatever you want to call it, shapes these and the next generations. It’s gonna be decisive. The long-term consequences will also be extremely severe. For me this is truly incredible.
I wish you all good health. Please stay inside as much as possible, avoid contact. We’ll get through this!