{"id":136438,"date":"2020-12-18T12:30:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-germany-squandered-early-covid-19-success\/"},"modified":"2020-12-18T12:30:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T09:30:01","slug":"how-germany-squandered-early-covid-19-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-germany-squandered-early-covid-19-success\/","title":{"rendered":"#How Germany squandered early COVID-19 success"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#How Germany squandered early COVID-19 success<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Long held up as a European success story in the fight against the pandemic, Germany has been hit hard by a second coronavirus wave that has brought record daily infection numbers and deaths.\n <\/p>\n

With intensive care beds filling up and Germans heading into the Christmas holidays under a partial lockdown, here’s a look at what went wrong.<\/p>\n

Merkel vs regional leaders<\/b><\/p>\n

Chancellor Angela Merkel, a scientist, won plaudits during the first wave in the spring for giving Germans clear and fact-based guidance on COVID-19. <\/p>\n

Close cooperation with the regional leaders of Germany’s 16 states allowed for early and widespread testing and quick action against local outbreaks.<\/p>\n

But the country’s federal system later turned against Merkel. At a crucial meeting in October, she pleaded in vain for tough new curbs to fight rapidly rising infection numbers.<\/p>\n

Many regional leaders, wary of inflicting more financial pain on businesses and nervous about an increasingly vocal anti-mask movement, opposed Merkel and a confusing patchwork of rules emerged.<\/p>\n

Merkel at the time declared herself “unsatisfied” but had no power to push through nationwide measures.<\/p>\n

As other European countries returned to hard lockdowns, German leaders eventually agreed on a four-week “light” shutdown for November, which kept schools and shops open but closed indoor dining, leisure and cultural centres\u2014to little effect.<\/p>\n

“It was probably the biggest political miscalculation of the year,” Der Spiegel weekly said.<\/p>\n

Crisis talks between Merkel and the regions saw Germany return to a partial lockdown on Wednesday, shutting schools and non-essential shops in addition to the existing restrictions, until at least January 10.<\/p>\n

Weary Germans<\/b><\/p>\n

Although sometimes gently mocked abroad as sticklers for the rules, not all Germans are showing the same commitment to mask-wearing and social<\/a> distancing as at the start of the pandemic. <\/p>\n

When Christmas markets were cancelled to limit socialising, mulled wine stands popped up that drew large crowds, much to Merkel’s dismay.<\/p>\n

“During the spring lockdown, we reduced our contacts by 63 percent. Right now, we’ve only managed 43 percent, which simply isn’t enough,” Christian Drosten, one of Germany’s best-known coronavirus experts, said recently.
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The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control has said Germans need to reduce their social contacts by at least 60 percent to bring transmission rates back down to a level where contact tracers can keep up with the chain of infection.<\/p>\n

The country’s coronavirus warning app has been download<\/a>ed 23.5 million times. But only around half of users who have tested positive have actually used the app’s notification feature.<\/p>\n

Eastern states and the far-right<\/b><\/p>\n

The worst-hit coronavirus states at the moment are in Germany’s former communist East, which also happens to be where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has the most support.<\/p>\n

Among them are the districts of Bautzen and Goerlitz in Saxony state, where coronavirus incidence rates now stand at 600 per 100,000 people\u2014more than three times the national rate. <\/p>\n

The AfD has in recent months railed against the virus curbs and its members have joined a series<\/a> of “anti-corona” demos, marching with anti-maskers, conspiracy theorists and anti-vaccination campaigners.<\/p>\n

After initially condemning the “hysteria” about surging infection numbers, Saxony premier Michael Kretschmer admitted he “underestimated” the virus and ordered his state into a partial lockdown two days before the rest of Germany.<\/p>\n

Elderly hardest hit<\/b><\/p>\n

The head of the RKI, Lothar Wieler, has voiced concern about the rising number of cases and deaths in homes for the elderly.<\/p>\n

In the capital Berlin alone, the number of pensioners testing positive for the virus has more than doubled since mid-November, to over 2,000 cases.<\/p>\n

Of the more than 24,000 COVID-19 deaths recorded in Germany so far, 87 percent were people aged 69 or over, according to the Statista data agency.<\/p>\n

Nursing and care homes nationwide have sounded the alarm about a lack of personnel, which they say makes it hard to quickly test and isolate elderly people and their carers. Many also complain about a lack of high-efficiency FFP2 and FFP3 masks at work.<\/p>\n

Merkel’s government has pledged to provide free FFP2 masks to senior citizens and carers.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Follow the latest news<\/a> on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2020 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n How Germany squandered early COVID-19 success (2020, December 18)
\n retrieved 18 December 2020
\n from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2020-12-germany-squandered-early-covid-success.html<\/p>\n

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