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Don't go to work, meet as few friends as possible, and never go sledding.
Do not move further than 15 kilometers from your own home, but also do not stand too close together.
The fireworks of restrictions are the only ones to start the new year.
The endlessly long list of new prohibitions and restrictions shows one thing above all: the previous ones did not help.
Not enough, anyway.
Perhaps it is time to take a radically new path: instead of banning the Germans more and more, they should be allowed to do things that were previously forbidden.
Carrot instead of stick.
Streaming and marijuana instead of distance and masks.
That would lift the mood and stimulate the economy.
Subsidies for streaming services
Netflix and Chill was made a public duty by the government back in November.
In a video series, the federal government showed how each of us can become the “#special hero” of the corona pandemic: by staying on the couch and hacking through one series marathon after another.
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But what if the series is missing?
Even the former street sweeper among the ARD early evening series “Verbotene Liebe” can only be seen in the new edition on TV Now, the - at least partially - paid service from RTL.
Whether Netflix, Joyn, Disney + or YouTube Premium - with less than 800 million euros, the federal government could sponsor at least one subscription for every citizen.
Aldous Huxley once said: “Trying a gram is better than cursing.” In his novel “Brave New World” (which is deliberately not referred to as dystopia here) the entire population receives the drug Soma every day.
It has a mood-enhancing and relaxing effect.
Exactly what we need in Corona times.
Interestingly enough, even in our less brave and less new world, there is a drug that does this: marijuana.
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Many citizens have already recognized this and are busy consuming CBD - the legal, but also boring variant of marijuana.
With a full legalization of marijuana, the federal government could kill so many birds with one stone that the brave little tailor would be jealous.
Legalize it!
Sure: marijuana is a drug.
Just like alcohol or nicotine.
Smoking weed can lead to psychosis.
How great the risk is depends heavily on the quality of the marijuana.
And the German state can control that.
In any case, the population would be much more relaxed immediately.
The mood would suddenly improve.
Most people's walk would be reduced to the length of a joint.
Excursions that involve a car trip would be canceled entirely.
15 km away from your own home?
Not at all in the mood.
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At the same time, the economy would be boosted.
Stoners are hungry.
And often, as the University of Leipzig confirms.
But they rarely feel like cooking.
So food is ordered.
Morning, noon, evening, sometimes several times a day.
The gastronomy would probably be saved.
Not only the restaurants and delivery services would benefit: The federal government would also have an option to refinance streaming subscriptions for everyone.
About a marijuana tax.
Most likely, in their blissfully stoned state, they would not even notice the circular argument.
Sounds absurd?
But don't 15-kilometer radius of motion do that too?