The virus has been following you like a dark shadow for a long time. Well, in the omicron phase, it shows its face for the first time – and it’s actually not that ugly.
A specter is haunting, not just in Europe but around the world. Also in Grafing. The ghost is called Corona and is a terror that is as omnipresent as it is invisible. For two years now, our everyday life, oh what, our whole life has been based on the pandemic situation. You have already developed a full-blown compulsion to wash your hands, got used to the mask, learned not to offend anyone and to avoid all unnecessary contact. Celebrate a party? For heaven’s sake! Going to the vaccination center? A matter of course.
For a very long time there were no infected people in our own circle of family, colleagues or friends, let alone seriously ill, thank God. Corona, and its consequences, manifested itself practically only in an abstract way, in numbers, texts and images. But that has changed abruptly with Omikron in the past few weeks. Suddenly the impacts are getting closer and closer. And then damn close. Until the day when your son’s quick test suddenly shows two clear lines. The pandemic has arrived at home.
But the face of the virus, which you can finally look directly in the eye, turns out to be not so ugly: Thanks to double vaccination, the filius is just going through something like a bad cold. There is no high-risk patient under the same roof, so you can be relatively relaxed from a medical point of view. In addition, the parents both have jobs in which home office is easily possible. And the homeschooling? An ancient, long-worn in hat. So: We’re all staying at home again – let’s see it as a big adventure!
Only one thing quickly proves to be problematic: the infected 13-year-old, who is usually anything but a cuddly bear, suddenly wants to be hugged. It’s not that he lacks insight into the infection pathways, but such a real ghost is apparently capable of disturbing even a super-cool teenager. And that is a new quality of renunciation: keeping your distance from your own child – that’s harder than anything else. Hopefully this ghost will go away soon.