- But do it right, and not paranoid bullshit.
Every crisis presents opportunities. This holds true for the Corona pandemic as well. I'm not talking about the profits of mask hoarders or the unexpected fame of numerous scientists and countless conspiracy theorists. I'm talking about opportunities for progress that we should seize, but are currently squandering together. We're upset, we argue, but we're not tackling the big issues, of which there are many. Is this already digital dementia or just simple apathy?
One of the biggest issues is our shoddy preparation for another "century event" of this kind (hopefully it will take that long!). In other words, the next pandemic. When it happens again, we should really know what we want. Plans existed in 2020, but there was a lack of practice, experience, and thought for securing the well-being of all population groups. Now we all have this experience, but we're not taking future precautions seriously. Do we hate learning? Are we living only for the chatter of the moment?
Meanwhile, various strange viruses have appeared in the news: monkeypox, Nipah, Oropouche, usually in an infotainment style. None have become pandemic (avian flu has serious prospects). One might think that the constant threat of an epidemic in the globalized world has already been pushed aside. Demands for a real reckoning of the Corona era are therefore fully justified. But in everyday communication, the hindering patterns of degenerated debate culture repeat themselves daily, like the daily greeting of the groundhog: noise, smoke bombs, and political distraction maneuvers. The summer theater around the "RKI protocols" is a silly charade. Pseudo-revealers construct a scandal from at best administratively interesting files, only obscuring the deeper problems. The naive become their touched, but often enthusiastic cheerleaders.
Current Corona Situation: Good News
The real challenges lie deeper and require more effort. So why not roll up our sleeves now? At the current time, threats from the virus seem hardly acute. Since calendar week 31, which ended on August 4, the Corona wave has been stagnant. Doctor's visits for respiratory illnesses have decreased, according to the RKI weekly report, and the viral load detected in wastewater has been stable. The virus is present, still causes long COVID, and vaccinations are still recommended for many of us. But Covid-19 now only accounts for 19 percent of respiratory illnesses. The Omicron variant is dominant again and rarely leads to severe cases. Intensive care medicine is back to normal.
But would this temporary all-clear comfort you if you were at the peak of the crisis at 14 or 15 years old, forced to move and living without friends? Depressed for eight months (average duration of illness among adolescents) without a therapy spot? New infections among 5- to 17-year-olds increased by eight percent for depression, possibly also underdiagnosed due to the pandemic. Obesity in children and adolescents increased by eleven percent in frequency.
It was also striking the under-supply of anxiety disorders and the deterioration of the social situation of children from low-income families. Internships disappeared, sports clubs fell into crisis. Worldwide, people under 25 showed the highest values for loneliness, an enormous risk factor for all dimensions of health.
Let's Talk About Reckoning Like Mature Citizens!
Does this alarm us? Are we interested in a more social policy for younger people? Do we demand a real modernization of schools? No! Instead, paranoid nonsense for imaginary investigative committees and the progress-stunting fetish politics of ultra-orthodox debt-brakers. Empathy is carefully avoided, instead there are shallow excitement incitements and C-list celebrity ramblings about alleged laziness of Generation Z. Some 50-year-olds genuinely believe they "built the country" and still argue on Facebook with red faces about Chinese biotech labs.
This is what moral decay looks like. This is how we learn nothing, and the next disaster could be a clone of the last.
Fortunately, there are people who don't give up and create truly important knowledge. Last Sunday, researchers led by Australian Megan Lim published a large international study on how social contacts can succeed under pandemic conditions. They found that young people invested additional time in strong relationships during the plague time. However, weaker connections suffered, which is alarming because it threatens what we call our social network. The many acquaintances that matter when you need help with specific problems, job mediation and opportunities, inspiration and ideas. Especially young people cannot thrive without this network.
By now, it is recognized that school closures should be avoided as much as possible. Responsible parties admit: it shouldn't have happened like this. But that's not nearly enough. Sustainable investments in the education sector are needed. Instead, debates about mobile phone bans on school grounds, moralizing, and trivializing are taking place.
Every crisis offers opportunities, but we're currently squandering a profound one. We need, to put it bluntly, a structured debate about what our dream pandemic should look like. Constructive, with lots of empathy and as little bullshit as possible. Because Corona was certainly not our last test.
In the context of seizing opportunities for progress during and after the Corona pandemic, a structured debate about creating a "dream pandemic" with a focus on social policy is necessary. This debate should aim to minimize the negative impacts of future pandemics on young people, such as mental health issues, educational disruptions, and social isolation.
Additionally, the findings from the international study conducted by researchers led by Megan Lim highlight the importance of investing in sustainable education solutions to maintain strong social connections among young people during a pandemic. This highlights the need for a more comprehensive social policy to address the unique challenges faced by this age group during crises, ensuring they thrive despite difficult circumstances.
