The new normal

It’s 7 am on a Monday morning and my son’s Covid self-test kit is on the breakfast table next to the cereal bowls and the mugs of tea. This is one of the latest developments in the constantly changing new normal. Since mid-April, school children in Germany as young as six need to self-test twice a week. These rapid tests have been especially designed for children and involve a shallow nasal swab. They're a bit uncomfortable but at least they're not painful! This is supposedly our last home test; next time will be at school. We are the lucky ones, since schools in Berlin are still open, though things are far from normal (surgical masks are now compulsory on school premises and classrooms, while classes are still halved and school ends earlier than usual). In other parts of Germany, however, schools have closed once again following the introduction of new measures to control the spread of Coronavirus infections. 

U-turn

While several European countries with similar or even higher Covid incidence rates have started relaxing restrictions, in Germany the emergency brake or Notbremse came into effect last Saturday. This is the latest attempt by the government to try to bring down the number of Covid infections during the third wave. They tried to shut down the country completely for five days over Easter but failed. The highly controversial move would have meant the closure even of supermarkets and grocery shops. A few days after the announcement of this plan, I received a WhatsApp message from a friend: “Have you heard the latest? They’ve scrapped the Easter lockdown! Was it all a joke?” I quickly got on to the Tagesspiegel website. In a video Angela Merkel was apologising for the mistake. I’m not sure what was most shocking: the sudden U-turn or seeing a politician admit they had made a mistake and were taking full responsibility.

Emergency Brake

As Germany is made up of 16 federal states, and each one can choose its own restrictions, Angela Merkel has been struggling to get every state to play by the same rules, hence the nationwide “emergency brake" law voted by the German parliament last week. This is applied when the seven-day incidence rate rises above 100 cases per 100,000 residents for three days in a row. For the first time the measures include an overnight curfew from 10 pm to 5 am (you can still go for a jog until midnight). Non-essential shops are still open, but if you want to go shopping you need to make an appointment and show a negative Covid test. If the incidence rate is above 150, shops are only open for “click-and-collect”.  You can still go to the hairdresser, but again you need a negative Covid test. Children under 14 can still play sports outdoors but only in small groups and their trainers need - you guessed it - a negative Covid test! If the incidence rate reaches 165, schools have to close and switch to home schooling. At the moment, the incidence rate in Berlin is around 135. So fingers crossed!

Test, test, test

While many businesses are struggling to survive or are having to close permanently, Covid test centres are in high demand, judging by the queues outside. These days you need a negative Covid test for most things, except going to the doctor’s or the supermarket. 

Pandemic fatigue 

After over a year of Covid restrictions and changing rules, more and more people are feeling fed up. This time last year the German government was being praised for its prompt and competent response to the pandemic. Now confidence is wavering and more people are bending the rules, as it gets increasingly challenging to keep up with the changes. The other day as I was reading the latest news over breakfast my son asked: “Does the information change every day?” “No, darling. It changes every hour”. Whether it’s about which mask to wear (FFP2 is compulsory almost everywhere these days, but in some places and situations you can still wear a surgical mask), vaccines (initially AstraZeneca was administered only to the under 65s, but now it’s only for people aged over 60 due to concerns over blood clots), schools (open or closed?), tests (self-test or test centres? PCR or rapid test?), social contacts (one household or more?) - the list is endless – we’re being confronted with constantly changing rules and information but no long-term plan in sight.

Fake news, protests and satire

Fake news and conspiracy theories about coronavirus and vaccines are rife. What coronavirus? It’s all an invention. Did you know that the Astrazeneca jab can turn you into a monkey? Meanwhile, protests by Querdenker, or Covid deniers, are getting louder and more radical. Police have been investigating a “death list”, which has been circulating on the internet, with the names of German politicians who voted in favour of the emergency break. Last week a group of German actors who posted satirical videos making fun of the coronavirus restrictions came under heavy criticism and were accused of being Querdenker. Many of these actors have withdrawn their videos from the campaign’s website called Alles dicht machen (close everything down) after the videos were praised by the far-right party AFD. Despite the growing disgruntlement, there is still strong support for a hard lockdown in Germany, according to the polls.

The coldest April in 40 years

These days whenever someone asks the question “How are you?” it is generally followed by a pause, as the person stops to think. It’s difficult to know how we feel after 13 months of disruption to our lives. The weather is not helping either. Although it looks like spring, with pink and white cherry blossoms brightening up the streets and the days getting longer - it doesn’t feel like spring. This has in fact been the coldest April since 1980. We can only hope that things will improve in May. At least the vaccination campaign is picking up momentum, as doctors (GPs and specialists) have started vaccinating in their surgeries; until recently Covid jabs were only given in designated vaccination centres. I’m still hoping the summer can be saved and we’ll be free to travel and visit our families, but it will take a miracle!

Humour in coronavirus time

This week I watched a documentary on Arte called Viral Humour - Telling Jokes in Corona Times. It shows how humour can help us through hard times and how it evolved through the pandemic. Some of the jokes are very funny. I recommend watching it if you feel like a laugh. 

Back to lockdown

 

The partial lockdown that was supposed to save Christmas has turned into a full Christmas lockdown. 

Today is the last day of lockdown light. As of tomorrow, we will be in a hard national lockdown. From 16 December everything except for essential shops, pharmacies, doctors and dental surgeries will be closed, including schools. Restaurants will remain closed, although they will still be allowed to sell takeaway food. However, outdoor alcohol consumption will not be permitted. So no more drinking Glühwein from outdoor stalls! 

Parents all over Germany are bracing themselves for the hard task of having to entertain children at home during the extended Christmas holiday with little or no contact with friends or family. My survival strategy, at least initially, will involve lots of baking with my son, assuming that flour in supermarkets doesn’t run out, as it did the first-time round. I’ve already seen several people out on the streets carrying huge bags of toilet paper so that is rather concerning. I’m not even going to think about home schooling at this stage.

The national lockdown was only announced on Sunday, giving people little or no time to prepare. Since Monday customers have been queueing outside hairdressers and barbers not knowing when the next chance to get a haircut will be. Luckily I managed to get my hair cut just in time! The lockdown is supposed to last until 10 January, but given the high number of Covid cases and Covid deaths, it may well last longer.

Bookshops are allowed to stay open as they are considered to be “systemically relevant”. So if you haven’t yet done all your Christmas shopping, in Germany you can at least buy books from your local bookshop to avoid using Amazon!

Once upon a time Berlin used to be famous for its cultural and party scene, but nowadays the posters advertising gigs, plays and club nights have been replaced by adverts for Covid test centres. Even the KitKatClub has been turned into a Covid test centre. Where clubbers and fetishists once used to queue up before partying the night away, they now queue up to find out if they are Covid positive. This is the new normal in the year 2020. The only glimmer of hope is that the coronavirus vaccine may soon be approved in the EU as well, so that we might start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Life in “lockdown light” – week 1

The first week of “lockdown light”, as it’s being called in Germany, is almost over. Compared with the first lockdown in the spring, when almost everything was closed, this is only a partial lockdown. Meetings are restricted to two households (a maximum of 10 people), both indoors and outdoors, and if you meet someone from a different household you must keep a distance of 1.5 m. Cafes and restaurants can only open for takeaway (thus producing more rubbish than ever, but they need our support to keep going). Bars, cinemas, theatres, operas, concert halls, museums, fitness and yoga studios, swimming pools, nail bars, beauty salons, tattoo studios, etc. have been closed since Monday 2 November. Unlike the previous lockdown, all shops and hairdressers are open, as are libraries and playgrounds, though the number of people allowed inside a shop is limited. 

Crucially schools and nurseries remain open and are not expected to close unless the situation worsens dramatically. As I mentioned before, there is a stage-plan for Berlin schools based on the Corona Ampel, or traffic-light coronavirus-warning system for the city. The Covid situation for each school and district is assessed at the end of the week and parents are informed of the required measures before the start of the following week. At the moment, face masks don’t need to be worn inside classrooms in primary schools, but if the traffic lights were to change that would be the next step. I was surprised to find out that swimming lessons will still take place, as they are part of the school curriculum in year 3, even though pools are closed to everyone else. 

Thus, this lockdown affects primarily the leisure, culture, beauty and catering sectors. Some argue that the closure of shopping malls would have been preferable to shutting down the arts and culture sector, but the government reckons that we tend to socialise more when we go out to the cinema or to the theatre than when we go shopping. The aim of the lockdown is to reduce social contacts by a significant amount to slow the spread of Covid-19. Even though it isn’t as restrictive as the previous one, the word lockdown has very negative connotations. Some of us still have nightmares from the previous lockdown. Others might have coped well the first time round but may be feeling low this time. Of course, the colder weather and shorter days don’t help, at least in the northern hemisphere. 

If you are currently living in full or partial lockdown, here are some more suggestions to help you get through these difficult times. 

Make sure you take care of both your mental and physical wellbeing. The two often go hand in hand. It’s normal to feel anxious or worried at this time. If you are experiencing severe anxiety, panic attacks, or other symptoms make sure you seek help. Talk to a friend about how you feel and consult a doctor and/or a psychologist. They can help you.

Try to get out as much as possible and exercise regularly. Walking, running or cycling are all great ways to keep active, especially in nature. Head to your local park, forest, lake, beach, hill or mountain. Even though fitness centres and swimming pools are closed, there are alternatives. For example, I’ve gone back to yoga and pilates lessons via Zoom. Although it’s not the same as exercising in a room with other people, there are significant benefits to digital exercise. 

Try to find distractions to help you switch off from all the negative and worrying news. This week the cliffhanger “US presidential election 2020” has provided a welcome source of distraction and entertainment. I can’t wait for Netflix to make the second season! What’s that? Are you seriously suggesting this is not a tv-series, it’s for real? 

Here are some other suggestions: read a book, watch a film, listen to music, bake a cake, look after your plants or buy a plant, call a friend, whatever helps you relax. 

Meanwhile, the list of recommendations to avoid the spread of Covid-19 gets longer and longer, as I discovered while cycling past this advertising board the other day. 

It used to be AHA, an abbreviation that stood for distance, hygiene and masks. Now it’s: 

• Keep a distance

• Wash your hands

• Wear a mask

• Ventilate regularly 

• Reduce contacts

• Use the app

Just to give you an idea of what they mean by “ventilate regularly”, classrooms need to be aired every half hour. That means opening all the windows, as well as the door, for five minutes every 30 minutes.  As the weather gets colder, schools and parents are considering investing in air filters for each classroom to avoid freezing when the winter really hits. Of course, the most effective air filters tend to be a lot more expensive. I’m waiting to see if they find a solution.

The dark times are coming

Summer time is officially over. On Sunday we turned back the clocks, so this means that it is now a little lighter in the mornings, but over the next few weeks it will be getting darker and darker in the afternoons. This is not a good prospect, considering that we are currently facing the second wave of coronavirus and things are only expected to get worse. 

While Angela Merkel has been telling us to stay at home and to reduce social contacts, many in Berlin seem to be ignoring her advice. On Saturday night, the police broke up an illegal party in Mitte. In a tweet, the police suggested that “for the 600 guests the fetish party probably ended unsatisfactorily”. If you can read German, I would recommend following Polizei Berlin Einsatz on Twitter. Not only are their latest tweets entertaining, but they also show that the police are being kept busy by people failing to observe the AHA rules.

By the way, it is now AHA + A + L (Abstand, Hygiene, Alltagsmaske + App + Lüften), i.e. distance, hygiene, masks + Corona warning app + fresh air. Meanwhile on Sunday, roughly 2000 people gathered at Alexanderplatz to protest against the Covid rules.

The end of summer time this year coincided with the end of the autumn half-term or Herbstferien. As schools in Berlin restarted today, the question every parent and teacher will be asking themselves is: how long before things start to change? So far schools have been functioning fairly normally, but we have been advised of a stage-plan for Berlin schools based on the Corona Ampel, or traffic-light coronavirus-warning system for the city. The three lights correspond to the reproduction number (or R value), the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and the number of beds occupied in intensive care. Currently one of the lights is red and has been for some time (the number of new infections), one is yellow (R value), while the other one is green so overall the traffic light is yellow. Presumably we will know more later this week, as the situation evolves. 

Meanwhile, you might want to make a trip to the shops if you’re running low on toilet paper. After months of normal supplies, toilet paper shelves have started to look bare again, as panic-buying returns. Next time I go shopping I’ll check on soap and hand sanitiser levels!

Aha! The new normal

The summer in Berlin ended two weeks ago, when thermometers recorded a spectacular drop of 20°C. One day we were heading to lakes and outdoor pools for relief from the heat and the next we were rummaging through our wardrobes for cardigans and raincoats. Although the summer is technically not over yet, there is an autumnal feel in the air. The mornings have turned decidedly chilly, while the fallen leaves on the ground are getting more noticeable. As the coronavirus summer ends, the coronavirus autumn begins.

Aha!

Some of us were lucky enough to enjoy a proper summer break, perhaps even going abroad, while others opted for a staycation. For most of us, though, the holiday time is over and it’s back to old routines, well not quite. The new normal in Germany is represented by the AHA rules. In this case Aha is not an exclamation to express satisfaction or surprise - Aha! So that’s how you defeat coronavirus! - and it also doesn’t stand for alpha-hydroxy acid. Moreover, it doesn't refer to the Norwegian pop band that was popular in the eighties (Take on meee!). In the year 2020, AHA is an abbreviation of Abstand (distance), Hygiene (hygiene) and Alltagsmasken (daily masks). 

Going back to school

While children around the world are returning to school or are preparing to go back to school in the coming weeks, here in Berlin children have already completed their fourth week of school. The first week was dedicated to learning the AHA rules obviously. Apart from the compulsory masks, the social distancing (not in classrooms) and hygiene rules, school here is pretty much back to normal. We even managed to have an Elternabend or parents’ evening (a general meeting about the class) in the assembly hall, where we were all sitting 2m apart and wearing masks.

It's virus time

As life gradually returns to normal, albeit under the AHA rules, and recreational and cultural activities pick up, what can we expect? Viruses of course! However much we wash our hands and keep away from crowded places, viruses will reach us, especially if we spend time with children. As GPs and paediatricians are keen to point out, there are plenty of viruses out there, in addition to the infamous one. 

After three weeks of school, the first virus made its way into our home, in the form of a sore throat, runny nose and fever.  I spent last weekend wondering whether it was coronavirus and where to get tested. When I finally managed to get through to the paediatrician to ask for advice on the following Monday, it became clear that a Covid-19 test would not be required. Luckily, it wasn’t a serious infection and it cleared up after a few days. In the area where I live, it seems that the only way to get a free test without a long wait is to return from a Risikogebiet, i.e. a region at risk. When I started sneezing and feeling under the weather, my husband suggested booking a cheap return flight to Spain so that I could get tested. The alternative would be a private test in Berlin that costs €158,65. Sunshine and tapas here I come! 

On a serious note, check the guidelines for your country or region. If you live in Berlin and your child is ill, this PDF by the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family explains what to do.