During times of social crisis, whether war or pandemic or economic recession, the state, if it is to endure, has to manage the affects of its citizens. More specifically, the state has to walk a fine line between demoralization and (morale) mobilization of its (public) workforce (e.g., teachers and nurses) in the interest of the state (Anderson, The affect theory reader, Duke University Press, Durham, 2010). It is this conjunction of affect and power during the recent COVID-19 pandemic that is a central concern of this chapter. Focusing on teaching as labour undertaken in schools, in particular employment relations to ministries of education, and within specific historical circumstances, I examine the reciprocal determination of affect and the political during the pandemic. Set against the backdrop of one teacher’s expression of demoralization with regard to working conditions—inequity of contracts, marginalization of teachers’ concerns, experience-poor staff, work overload, emotional abuse—I identify and examine mechanisms used by the state and its allies to generate, track and repair teacher morale during and after COVID-19. I ponder the potentiality of particular affects in the emergence and shifting of power during times of crisis.