On Friday, the tide had begun to change. Far fewer people turned up at the adult education college where I teach and we spent much of the day wondering what lay ahead. Later that day the Bavarian government was the first in Germany to decree that all schools would remain closed until the Easter holidays. In the afternoon we went to our local library which -- like the schools – was closing. When we arrived at the library it was busier than I have ever seen it. Long queues were winding around the ground floor as people borrowed as much as they could to keep themselves busy during the coming weeks.
On Saturday, the city-run adult education college officially suspended all courses. All city and university libraries, theatres, football stadiums, public baths and other venues followed suit. Like thousands of other self-employed people in the city, me and my colleagues were suddenly without a job for at least a month, if not much longer.
Despite growing doubts whether they should still be held, the local elections took place on Sunday as planned. Interestingly, more people voted than the last time (2014). There were no big surprises in Munich, but I still felt a sense of relief when the results for the city council were announced.(1)
At first my daughters cherished the idea of seemingly endless (five weeks!) unexpected holidays, but then friends weren’t allowed to leave the house and teachers began mailing work sheets and multiple assignments. By Wednesday evening most shops had closed. The streets were getting emptier but not as much as predicted. In spite of the warnings, the sunny weather beckoned us to go out and enjoy the cloudless skies and warm temperatures. In a highly unusual move, our Chancellor addressed the nation in a TV broadcast. Oliver Welke pointed out that during similar broadcasts by (male) heads of state (e.g. Spain, France), they adopted the pose of military commanders, talking about “waging a war” against this viral enemy. Chancellor Angela Merkel refrained from all war rhetoric. She appealed to us to behave responsibly and talked of children making podcasts for their grandparents rather than seeing them in person.
No longer able to go for our weekly swim, I went for a walk with a friend on Thursday (19/3). Plenty of people were enjoying the sun in Nymphenburg park in the late afternoon, but most had begun to heed the mantra of social distancing. Often only one person sat on a bench, unless they clearly knew each other. When passing others, people kept slightly further apart than normally. When we arrived at the park, a police helicopter was circling low above the grounds in a slightly menacing manner. Later when I cycled home I saw a police van slowly driving along the canal. They too seemed to be checking whether people were following their latest recommendations.
During the day, the ambulance sirens sometimes seemed to be going non-stop. The number of infections is highest in the south of the country and constantly rising. In the evening a somber and determined Markus Söder, the current Bavarian First Minister, became the first regional leader within Germany to introduce a lockdown. The Abitur exams, an endless source of Bavarian pride, were postponed. In stark contrast, the exams for police recruits were brought forward by two months and will now take place next Monday.(2)
On Friday I only went out to buy some groceries. When I ran into neighbours we half worried, half joked about the situation. Everyone seemed to agree that the strict rules are necessary, but an elderly neighbour nearly began to cry when she recounted that her doctor had told her, she shouldn’t see her grandchildren for the next few weeks. “I see them every week. How am I going to cope?” On the main door of our apartment building somebody had put a notification of a city wide neighbourhood service run by volunteers. If needs be, somebody will shop or go to the chemists for you. The small cooperative selling organic products close by also offers a free delivery service. So far they’ve had only one request.
On Saturday it rained heavily during the night and I woke up early. Drinking a cup of tea I looked out of our kitchen window. We have all seen enough pictures of completely deserted streets by now to know exactly how ghostly and desolate neighbourhoods can suddenly seem. While I opened the window to get a breath of fresh air, a van with a megaphone drove through the streets. The metallic voice was urging people “Bitte bleiben Sie zuhause!” (Please stay at home.) Straining to hear the rest of the message, I suddenly had to bite back tears, because the new reality had finally sunk in. I have no idea whether we will be able to return to “normal” after this pandemic wanes. The death toll in Italy makes all worries about my job, or the future of the economy, seem petty.
Today it’s cold and sunny. The cherry tree in the courtyard is in full bloom and neighbours can be heard laughing and chatting. One of my daughters is trying her hand at baking pretzels. At first I’m led to believe that the strict rules are already having an effect: The number of new infections as registered on the site of the Robert Koch Institute have already decreased significantly. Life seems more normal again. A short while later an online article in the Spiegel suggests that the Robert Koch Institute didn’t collect all necessary data over the weekend and that the John Hopkins University in the US has more accurate current figures. According to them the numbers haven’t decreased, on the contrary. I guess that what it’s going to be like from now on: A constant up and down.
(1) The overall winner is the Green party, followed by the CSU and SPD (which is steadily losing ground as anywhere else). Our current mayor (SPD) needs to win the final ballot on 29th March but is almost certainly going to remain in office albeit with considerably less support than he used to have. The big relief was that the local right wing candidates from the AfD and the BIA (Bürgerinitiative Ausländerstopp) together only got 4% of the vote (i.e. 3 of 80 town councillors).
(2) The reason for this unusual move is to counteract possible staff shortages. The Bavarian police force already is the largest within Germany. If all recruits pass the exam, the force would be increased by 800.