Commentary: Re-opening and lifting of COVID-19 restrictions will not give me the normalcy I want

BERLIN: It is looking increasingly inevitable that more European countries will open up as winter turns to spring.

There is a swell of collective will pushing governments to open up and kickstart entire economies on pause for two years.

Countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway have lifted all or most COVID-19 restrictions this month, including an end to face masks and health passes. United Kingdom and France have announced plans to do so. This despite soaring infection rates.

We will only know in hindsight if this is wise or foolish. No one really knows.

Almost everyone I know just feels sick and tired, as 2022 sputters into gear.

For two long years, we watched as everything became political and angry. Many governments didn’t too enough, some did too much. All got something wrong at some point and with almost 5.8 million deaths globally since the start of the pandemic, no one can claim to have won.

FRUSTRATION WATCHING OTHER COUNTRIES REOPEN

Now, fresh waves of the Omicron variant are driving record daily case counts.

Restrictions are still in place in many countries, including in Germany where I live. Frustrations are running high over everchanging rules and continuing contact restrictions, particularly about the number of people and households permitted to meet, even if fully vaccinated.

It all feels very unsatisfactory, like the ending of Game of Thrones, but in real life.

Watching our Nordic neighbours return to life as it was before the pandemic fills us with both hope and envy.

The restrictions at the end of 2021 in Germany, including the cancellation of iconic Christmas markets in some states, were deeply unpopular – just like in Singapore where there were restrictions over major festivals like Chinese New Year.