On the evening of January 27, 2020, the first infection with the novel corona virus became known in Germany: A man from Bavaria was sick.
Since then, the medical anthropologist Hansjörg Dilger from the Free University of Berlin has been observing how the virus shapes and changes society.
"There is currently a lot of restlessness, discouragement and exhaustion," Dilger says in a Skype interview - also because the prospect of a timely end to the pandemic is being delayed again.
WORLD:
In the first phase of the pandemic, passers-by kept a distance of meters, neighbors bought for seniors, and the helpers were applauded from balconies.
But this caution and consideration lasted only a few weeks.
How do you explain that?
Hansjörg Dilger:
At the beginning there was a great willingness to show solidarity.
But the longer the pandemic lasted, the fewer the resources for it.
This is because we only saw the challenges in dealing with Covid-19 with others, such as doctors and nurses.
But then it became clear that all of our own areas of life are also affected by Corona in the long term - perhaps not directly from the disease, but from its consequences.
Suddenly everyone was dealing with their own individual experiences.
And we responded by withdrawing from within society.
WORLD:
Why were we so busy with ourselves?