BERLIN – Susan Tabbach is exhausted. She juggled the work and full-time care of the three young children at home during the blockade, while caring for her elderly parents, who are not vaccinated.
She sees little prospect of relief. “I’m just exhausted,” said the 41-year-old architect from Aachen, a German city near the Belgian and Dutch borders. “At least I’d like to know that my parents are safe.”
Europeans of all ages, from children to grandparents, are becoming exhausted by a crisis that is now entering its second year and whose end seems to be receding beyond the horizon. Vaccinations are progressing at a glacial pace, Covid-19 cases are spiraling again, and increasingly unpopular governments are imposing new restrictions on a weekly basis.
The mixture of pessimism, resignation and anger contrasts with feelings of optimism in other parts of the West, especially in the US and the UK, where vaccinations are progressing much faster and the focus is on reopening the economy.
Germany is a striking case of wealth change. The country performed well in the first phase of the pandemic last year, and the authorities received applause for keeping infections and deaths low. Now, after four months of largely ineffective blockages and a slow and bureaucratic vaccination regime that has not increased so far, infections are rising again and the government sees its survey rating falling.