Yes that is the sad part.
Otherwise start an alt account and delegate some cards to it. 24 hr cooldown on any cards that have been played in battles.
Rating is seperate from ECR. So your ECR can be zero% and you still get your +20 or -20 per battle in rating points. I could see pushing hard at start of season to obtain your normal rating of Diamond 3 or Diamond 2. Take a few days off and then work for your 8 or so focus chest each day once the ECR has recovered. I am not sure what normal chest per day is with the new changes in focus points.