A look back is always a look ahead. At the beginning of January, Karl Lauterbach promised in an interview with the SZ: “It will be a great summer!” And as is so often the case in this wretched pandemic, the former fly carrier and new Minister of Health is right. The summer was splendid, almost like it was before the virus hit us. However, Lauterbach kept quiet because he probably didn’t know at the time that winter would be quite modest again. Just in time for the turn of the year “Omikron” hangs like a sword of Damocles over the country and nobody really knows what will happen to everyone.
But one thing is already certain: next summer will definitely be great again. The Further natural pool and the Haarer outdoor pool will overflow again, in the Aschheimer water ski park daredevil athletes will fly through the air, on the Ludwigshöhe cyclists will take a break to look at the alpine chain and in the beer gardens the day trippers will toast each other. After all, it’s part of the essence of a virus to take a break in the hot months and give people a few months to breathe. But what’s next? When the days get shorter again and the number of infections increases again. When the omicron suddenly becomes lambda, kappa, ypsilon or zeta. Will Lauterbach wrinkle his forehead again and report worriedly with RKI boss Lothar Wieler at the federal press conference about exploding incidences, while District Administrator Christoph Göbel calls on people to be careful and vaccinate?
A look back at two years of pandemic reveals that a bleak summer could be followed by another gloomy winter. And yet a lot is different this time, and it is up to the people to pave the way for society to return to normal. The often-voiced call that the country must learn to live with the virus does not mean throwing off the mask overnight and stop washing hands and wait for an entire country to be infected. But on the contrary. Anyone who has only looked once at the long lines in front of the vaccination centers in Haar, Oberhaching or Unterschleißheim in the past few weeks will understand that the vast majority of people in the district have long understood what the way out of the pandemic should look like: with patience, at a distance – and through vaccination.
The district has meanwhile created the prerequisites for this. The infrastructure is in place and the volunteers from the Johanniter, the Maltese and the Red Cross as well as the resident doctors welcome everyone who wants to be vaccinated with open arms. It is thanks to them that not only will next summer be great, but hopefully next winter too. Let’s wait and see what Karl Lauterbach will say at the beginning of the new year.