The Corona shock: How pandemic changed our society!

The Corona shock: How pandemic changed our society!

In the middle of the turbulent corona pandemic, various measures were taken in spring 2020 to slow down the spread of the virus. Covid vaccination in particular is still a hotly debated topic. Klaus Vander from the Institute for Hospital Hygiene and Microbiology explains that initial promises for vaccination - which should also prevent infection - had to be quickly revised. Instead, it was made clear that vaccination only reduces the severity of the disease and thus undermined trust in conventional medicine. To date, 3,628 deaths have been recorded in Styria in connection with Covid-19, with the majority of the deceased over 74 years old. The question is whether the protection for older people could have been better designed, while at the same time it is pointed out to the psychological consequences for children and adolescents, since the number of emergency rooms in child and adolescent psychiatry increases strongly, as orf.at .

At the same time, the structures in Germany assumed forms to counteract the increase in infections. In autumn 2021, the intensive care units were faced with over 4,000 covid patients, which led to the relocation of patients to other federal states. Despite a high proportion of vaccinated, the vaccination centers remained empty, which caused politics to introduce the controversial 3G rules. These enabled access to certain public places only for vaccinated, recovered or tested. According to Deutschlandfunk , this measure showed increasing vaccination, but the vaccination rate remained behind the expectations. In particular, the unvaccinated suffered from increasing restrictions, which led to displeasure and demonstrations in broad sections of the population.

in Retrospect, the 3G rules not only offered restrictions, but also new freedom for vaccinated. The German Ethics Council emphasizes that these regulations elevated certain restrictions and thus facilitate access to urgently needed medical treatments. Nevertheless, the actual effect of the measures is difficult to evaluate. Ultimately, the turn in pandemic was not brought about by political decisions, but also by the evolution of the virus itself. At the beginning of 2022, the number of infections rose to a record high, while the intensive care units were gradually relieved, not least because of the milder omicron variant and the increased immunity in the population.