Covid: five years on
In the early spring of 2020, Europe became a hotspot of the Covid-19 pandemic that first broke out in China. Most countries responded with restrictions that brought massive changes to people's everyday lives. Commentators in Europe's press recall how Covid - and the countermeasures - changed life and society with effects that are still being felt to this day.
Nothing learnt
Corriere della Sera bemoans the lack of a social reappraisal of the pandemic:
“Five years have passed since the pandemic wave swept over the world and our country, disrupting our lives and leaving a dramatic trail of grief and social damage in its wake. But a disturbing mechanism of collective repression has ensured that Covid is no longer talked about; no one today wants to remember those long months that changed the world. Have we learnt anything? Clearly not, and our national health service has certainly not emerged stronger, as we had all hoped it would.”
Social interaction wasting away
Spontaneous conviviality has disappeared from our lives, the Financial Times laments:
“We now spend much longer at home, both working and at leisure. Since Covid we spend less time socialising: according to the time use survey, the time spent with others has fallen to less than 35 minutes on an average day. ... The pandemic helped extinguish the last bastions of casual interaction: the pop-rounds, the call-bys and cup-of-tea-catch-ups that busied past generations are now largely fulfilled by texts. ... Socialising is a muscle that needs working.”
French have shown they can stand together
La Croix summarises:
“Although everyone has lived through the challenges with varying degrees of intensity, the country has experienced a period of shared resilience. However one dissenting voice was heard again and again and continues to be heard today: the rejection of the vaccine. ... Alternative narratives are emerging in the context of mistrust of the state and institutions. Some are linked to conspiracy theories that undermine democracy and the rule of law. ... Despite these differences, the cohesion demonstrated by the population during the dramatic events of 2020-2021 has left a valuable message for future times of crisis: In the face of very grave dangers, the national community knows how to stand together.”
Ban on contacts was the worst
Õhtuleht journalist Manona Paris recalls the exceptional state of social isolation:
“It was amazing how quickly our lives changed. Most of us voluntarily gave up a lot of our freedom because we understood the alternatives. ... In the beginning I enjoyed it - the family together, long walks, lots of good food. ... I started baking bread. Cakes. Making kimchi. My curiosity when it came to recipes was huge. The first shock came at the end of March when my little son realised that there would be no party for his fourth birthday. That he wouldn't be able to see his friends for a very long time. I could see the thoughts racing through his little head and for a moment his eyes filled with tears, but then he said: 'Mummy, I understand. The virus is terrible. We don't need it.' Then my eyes teared up too.”
Rethink lockdown policy
In Ta Nea's view, the harsh social restrictions came at too high a price:
“Countless studies show that thousands of people suffered from social isolation and loneliness during the pandemic, and that this problem was particularly acute during the national lockdowns. There was also a negative impact for single parents, who found it difficult to earn a living while caring for their children. ... Five years on, the harsh impact of the lockdowns has become clearer. Even researchers who showed that the lockdowns saved lives have warned against hastily resorting to this measure in the future. The effects on children, education and the economy are still being felt today, and will probably only be fully understood many years from now.”
A sad diagnosis for the future
Commentator Josef Veselka examines in Seznam Zprávy whether we learned our lessons from the Covid years and whether we're ready to face the next pandemic:
“I fear not. The coronavirus cost tens of thousands of lives, impoverished us, alienated us from our work and eroded much of our faith in the state, politics and science. What's more, we're still not ready for the next pandemic - because such a situation will almost certainly arise again at some point in the future.”
Better prepared than five years ago
We have learnt so much in so many areas, Les Echos counters:
“Before the crisis, working at home was the exception, now it's become more or less the norm, except for manual workers and people who work in shops. Teleconferencing and meetings on Teams or Zoom have become widespread. E-commerce, which was already very strong, has attracted even more French consumers. High-speed Internet access has become a must. And contactless payment, once considered relatively risky by both banks and customers, has become second nature. The lesson is that if we were to be hit by another pandemic and a new lockdown, we might not be fully prepared, but we'll be much better equipped than we were five years ago.”
The anger of the dissenters
The effects of the pandemic are still being felt today, Der Spiegel points out:
“The political culture has been permanently damaged because of the often hurtful black-and-white debates with sceptics being vilified. In particular those who did not want to be vaccinated became the target of public criticism. ... Part of the success of the right-wing populists of the AfD can certainly be attributed to the Covid policy, especially in eastern Germany: the anger at the way dissenters were pilloried and individual freedoms were ignored has disappointed, radicalised and infuriated many people. Anyone wondering where hatred of the 'elite' or 'those at the top' comes from should read up on the discussions in the Covid era.”
Dreams of a new world have faded
Le Monde feels a sense of disillusionment:
“We dreamed of a 'world after': one that would learn the lessons of this pandemic by reducing 'non-essential' travel, offering the possibility of working differently or accelerating the fight against climate change. ... Five years on, disillusion prevails: we have to face up to the fact that this brief surge of resistance against the 'world as it was before' has ebbed away. Where has this shared desire to transform our societies gone? ... In face of news headlines packed with conflicts, all that seems to have faded into the background.”