If you see the pictures, you might think that it would never have been different: crowds of people on the move in Cologne’s green belt, queues in front of the bars on Zülpicher and Schaafenstrasse. Groups, beer, music, no masks far and wide. “Hello Cologne. Welcome back ”, was written in the sky over the city at the beginning of the week. On Wednesday evening that was the motto for thousands on the ground.
Many seem successfully to ignore how fleeting the current freedoms are, which they have laboriously regained with months of renunciation. 56 patients are currently in Cologne with Covid-19 in intensive care units. The Robert Koch Institute reported two more deaths on Thursday. As of Thursday morning, 946 Cologne residents are demonstrably infected with Corona. The incidence value rose again slightly on Corpus Christi on the second day in a row.
These dry numbers do not mean that the people of Cologne cannot be happy that they can finally let go a little. But between being alone on the sofa at home and partying in the park with 100 friends, there is plenty of space to explore.
Yes, it’s incredibly good to sit at a table again and have an ice-cold drink put in front of your nose. It is an almost absurd luxury not to have a plate of pasta served from a Lieferando rucksack while it is not lukewarm. Having a conversation with people sitting next to you, observing people: normality, we remember darkly, yes, somehow that’s how it felt. And we should consider ourselves lucky that we can enjoy all of this again, because the price for it was high.
Pulling it together a little: it shouldn’t be difficult
Put on a mask, don’t sit by the dozen in a heap, pull ourselves together a little: If that’s really all we have to do now, so that the counters don’t close again in a week and so that we don’t just close in a few months can feel back to normal, then it shouldn’t be so difficult for us.
Half of Cologne’s residents have already received their first vaccination. If we can make it through the coming months without major outbreaks, we may actually be able to celebrate in the park again at the end of summer without exposing others or ourselves to any risk – and without having to look over our shoulder to see whether the public order office is coming by .
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