Gloom - the underestimated side effect of COVID19 we need to tackle

All over Europe, we see COVID19 infections rising again. What is making people fear besides the immediate threat of death are long term side effects. Those who bear responsibility in the economic circle additionally fear the economic, social and political side effects that another lockdown could impose. But how easy do we oversee another side effect that especially the current situation leads to: the dawn of a multi-faced autumn and the gloom that comes with it. 

Often cited these days is a German poem by Rainer Marie Rilke that expresses the ambiguity of autumn quite well, and so he writes (translated):

He who has no home now, will build no more.

He who is alone now will remain alone.

Will watch, read, write lengthy letters

And in the avenues will wander here and there

Restlessly, as the leaves are blowing

Fear is shaped by what is unknown and unexpected; we do not fear what we know. We have had our COVID crises in late spring but even though there was an intangible fear of this new virus, there still might have been hope for the dawn of the sun. Spring would lead to summer, we would suffer to overcome the crises until being healed by vaccine. A once in a time sacrifice that we will have to bear to overcome the crises. This view may have provided hope and strength in difficult times. And when summer came, numbers went down and measures were eased, one could see people celebrating the regain of freedom. And even though people struggled to cope with the situation, we had touched the lightness of summer. 

Now, things are quite different. 

We look back from the summer, and we feel that we might have missed an opportunity. The poem reflects this very well: did we use our time to prepare? Have we done everything to gain safety and comfort when days get darker? We should have known. It does not need highly qualified experts to understand that a viral infect will spread by far more in autumn than in summer. The so called second wave in autumn was foreseeable for everyone. My first analysis is that for this reason we might have some feelings of a collective guilt. All of us rather tried to bring back what we used to have or use the time for things we wanted to do for a long time instead of preparing for even worse times - maybe because we did not want to believe they might come. The collective feeling of guilt or a missed opportunity is part of the autumn gloom - just as in Rilkes autumn day. 

Secondly our view ahead is different than in spring. Ahead of us is not the warm sun awaiting us over the hill of a one time sacrifice. It Is the second time we fear to sacrifice. And we do not know if it will be worse, how long it might take and how things develop. Awaiting after the hills of reoccurring sacrifices now is the cold and darkness of winter. Again, similarly as described in the poem, we might not be able to recover and bring down numbers soon. We might not be able to build sufficient capabilities to keep the virus spread under control. And instead we might feel more locked down and even up. 

Many of us might wander here and there restlessly - with their feet and their mind. This may be one of the most severe consequences of the autumn gloom. 

We have analyzed medical and economic consequences of the COVID crises and mechanisms to cope with it - especially you might have done in case of bearing responsibility for other people. 

An urge for tackling the gloom

I urge all of us to reflect the upcoming gloom and mechanisms to cope with it, especially if you bear responsibility for other people. 

1. Let us try to more often ask people around us how they are and if they are alright; to give them the possibility to speak and gift our time to listen. 
2. Let us try more often to call each other especially when we might not see each other, to seek proximity in a situation of need for physical distance. 
3. Let us try more often to ask each other what we need and what we are missing, even though it might seem obvious to us what is needed and missing. 
4. Let us try more often not only to care for the physical health and the economy when we are tempted to spend even more time on this but instead spend time on caring for each other.
5. Let us try more often to look forward to better times and remind each other of this hope even though we might not see it. 

Our grandparents have mastered much severe times, they have endured and built great times that laid the foundation of our wealth today. 

We know that COVID19 will lead to people dying which is horrible. We know that it will lead to a significant decline in total wealth and even in an unfairly disproportional way which is terrible. 

But I fear a society that is driven by gloom instead of hope. 

Instead of COVID19, we already have the vaccine against this gloom: care for each other, help each other and spread hope instead of fear.

Let’s get to work.