Corona crisis: Social infrastructure threatens to break!

Corona crisis: Social infrastructure threatens to break!

According to Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa, President of the German Caritas, the Corona pandemic left profound traces in society that are still felt today. It describes the crisis as a decisive turning point in the political and social landscape, especially in terms of migration and nation states. Welskop-Deffaa emphasized that the virus crisis has fueled fears that favor populist currents, and warned of returning to border protection measures to ward off supposed threats, as it explained to the Catholic news agency (KNA).

Urgent need for action in the social sector

Welskop-Deffaa said that it was essential for the future to have sufficient financial resources available in the social sector in order to keep nursing staff in particular. Her warning of financial cuts is based on the conviction that a sustainable social infrastructure is necessary to remain crisis. She made these demands in Berlin on Wednesday. The existing experience of corona pandemic, which she described as a "profound turning point", must be processed in detail, but without blaming allocations in order to better manage the social challenges, said Welskop-Deffaa in her report to the Evangelical Newspaper.

Pandemic had a particularly negative impact on families and children. The Social Service of Catholic Women reported massive burdens that affected young mothers in particular, while specialists such as Monika Kießig found that many children in need did not receive the necessary support during this time. According to Kießig, the lack of visibility of these children must not be forgotten after pandemic. In hospitals and care facilities, the balance between protective measures and interpersonal relationships is also considered critical, leading to a noticeable overload of the nursing staff, such as Gundekar Fürssich, Managing Director of Caritas Altenhilfe. Here, a better exchange between authorities and facilities is urgently required to pull the lessons out of the crisis that will also significantly influence the future.