I knew that, while much of my work had been stunted, many others were in the same position by extension, I finally had permission to slow down.
Second lockdown professional#
For the first time in my professional life, I was almost completely divorced from the race to success. But when I look back to the anxiety and grief of the pandemic’s darkest days, my lockdown was, in some ways, a period of reprieve. In late spring this year, my lockdown Stockholm syndrome was difficult to reconcile with the atmosphere of excitement all around me. “Oftentimes, there is no word to express how we’re feeling, and I think that’s one of the ways that novel situations – like being vaccinated against a pandemic virus that none of us has had before – leaves us sometimes confused about what we’re feeling,” says Dr Zachary Goodell, a social psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University. But language isn’t always up to the task of helping us understand how we’re feeling. These conflicting emotions are likely familiar to many, to greater or lesser extent, as we unsteadily make our way forward to a new phase of Covid-19 on unsteady footing. Yet I’m calmed by the idea of another potential lockdown, or at least growing restrictions.
Now, with the Delta variant on the rise, I fear for the safety of my young son and newborn daughter, neither of whom can be vaccinated.
Second lockdown how to#
On one hand, I was thrilled to have the safety net of vaccination, yet, on the other, I was overwhelmed at being thrust into another new reality, after spending the previous year learning how to exist within the bounds of a pandemic. I couldn’t make sense of my tangle of feelings. Had the lockdown rendered me ill-equipped to deal with the world at large? Or was I simply unable to process the emotional whiplash of a return to society? Yet it also seemed to signify the loss of something safe. I realise that not everyone has been as lucky as me. The Ifo’s business sentiment index showed that company bosses were feeling a lot more pessimistic in October about the months ahead than they had been in August and September.I recognise that my sadness came from a place of privilege I have my life, my health and my work, in addition to the ability to so easily get vaccinated against this virus. READ MORE: German companies gloomy as COVID-19 infections surge There is no conflict between health and economic policy issues.” The economy contracted by 9.7% in the second quarter, and the government revised its 2020 forecast to 5.8% decline, from a previous forecast of a 6.3% decline.Ĭlemens Fuest, president of the Ifo economic research institute said: “There can be no economic recovery if the pandemic is not under control. Germany’s federal statistics bureau will release its preliminary third-quarter GDP data on 30 October. READ MORE: Coronavirus: Germany faces 1 million job losses in SME sector “You can't turn the economy on and off like a lamp without causing massive damage.” “Many companies are still very weak because of the initial lockdown,” Krämer said. “It would be criminally naive to believe that the second lockdown is just a repetition of the first,” Michael Hüther, the director of the German Economic Institute wrote in business newspaper the Handelsblatt.Ĭommerzbank chief economist Jörg Krämer told Reuters that a second lockdown would snuff out GDP growth in the final quarter of the year, creating a “considerable risk” of a second recession. Business owners have warned that they may not survive another lockdown - and economists echo their fears, saying it would be a disaster for the German economy. Merkel is aiming to get consensus from the states to shut restaurants, bars, gyms, theatres, cinemas in November to break the second wave of the virus. READ MORE: Germany braces for 'lockdown light' as coronavirus cases keep climbing With new daily coronavirus cases nearing 15,000 on Wednesday, and cases regularly surpassing 11,000 a day in the past week, the chancellor is pushing for what would amount to a second nationwide lockdown. German businesses are holding their breath awaiting the outcome of a meeting between chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states on Wednesday afternoon. Photo: Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Social distancing bubble tents are set up at the Cafe Tirree in Berlin, Germany on 24 October.