excalibur
Diamond Member
- Mar 19, 2015
- 18,109
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Remember how the MSM and DemonRats were touting Germany, and if only we could do what they were doing with regards to the virus?
Yeah, it was the left politicizing the Wuhan virus to attack Trump. Now Europe as a whole is over 800,000 dead and Germany isn't looking so hot either. No wonder the MSM and DemonRats don't talk about emulating Europe anymore.
www.nytimes.com
Yeah, it was the left politicizing the Wuhan virus to attack Trump. Now Europe as a whole is over 800,000 dead and Germany isn't looking so hot either. No wonder the MSM and DemonRats don't talk about emulating Europe anymore.
...
Last spring, as the virus rampaged through Europe, German policymakers acted swiftly and with rare unity. In March, schools, shops and restaurants were closed and gatherings of more than two people banned. After a few weeks, cases dropped and the country started to reopen gradually in April and May. Over the summer, there were very few restrictions — and very little Covid-19.
But when cases started to rise in the fall, policymakers failed to repeat the trick. During the first week of October, the caseload was as high as it had been when the first lockdown had been imposed in March. But many explained the rise by pointing to the increased number of tests, ignoring the clear trend of cases upward. Nothing was done.
In the following weeks, the virus took full advantage of Germany’s complacency. By the end of October, the number of daily cases had more than tripled. The response was halfhearted: closing restaurants and bars but leaving schools open — a “lockdown light” that, for a time, stabilized the situation. It wasn’t until just before Christmas, at which point cases were rising sharply, that politicians hit the emergency brake and closed down the country.
The decision came so late that by early January, some intensive care units were nearly overwhelmed. Daily deaths were at times quadruple their highest point in the first wave. In the first half of January, the number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants temporarily exceeded that in the United States. The elderly were devastated: Roughly 90 percent of those who died in the second wave were 70 or older.
For a country that had been widely hailed for its successful handling of the pandemic, it was a shocking reversal. Why did this happen?
The short answer: politics. In 2021, Germany will hold six state elections plus the national parliamentary election in September. If ever there was a time to take political risks — and there’s little riskier than depriving weary citizens of their freedoms for uncertain gain — the middle of a major election year is not it.
...
The troubled vaccination rollout has poured fuel on the fire. As part of the European Union — which was slow to agree on a contract with suppliers and late to begin the rollout — Germany has struggled to vaccinate its citizens: Currently only 4 percent have had a vaccine. And when AstraZeneca, one of the manufacturers, announced in January that it would cut its supply to the bloc, political war broke out.
States, the parties in the governing coalition and the minister of health all frantically blamed each other — or Ms. Merkel and Brussels. Germans were left desperately trying to get hold of a vaccination appointment for their elderly kin.
After the failures of the past few months, Germany is in for a marathon. To bring the finish line closer, a different approach is gaining traction: A group of experts is currently promoting a strategy of “No Covid,” where lockdowns won’t be lifted until there are fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 inhabitants a week.
...
Last spring, as the virus rampaged through Europe, German policymakers acted swiftly and with rare unity. In March, schools, shops and restaurants were closed and gatherings of more than two people banned. After a few weeks, cases dropped and the country started to reopen gradually in April and May. Over the summer, there were very few restrictions — and very little Covid-19.
But when cases started to rise in the fall, policymakers failed to repeat the trick. During the first week of October, the caseload was as high as it had been when the first lockdown had been imposed in March. But many explained the rise by pointing to the increased number of tests, ignoring the clear trend of cases upward. Nothing was done.
In the following weeks, the virus took full advantage of Germany’s complacency. By the end of October, the number of daily cases had more than tripled. The response was halfhearted: closing restaurants and bars but leaving schools open — a “lockdown light” that, for a time, stabilized the situation. It wasn’t until just before Christmas, at which point cases were rising sharply, that politicians hit the emergency brake and closed down the country.
The decision came so late that by early January, some intensive care units were nearly overwhelmed. Daily deaths were at times quadruple their highest point in the first wave. In the first half of January, the number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants temporarily exceeded that in the United States. The elderly were devastated: Roughly 90 percent of those who died in the second wave were 70 or older.
For a country that had been widely hailed for its successful handling of the pandemic, it was a shocking reversal. Why did this happen?
The short answer: politics. In 2021, Germany will hold six state elections plus the national parliamentary election in September. If ever there was a time to take political risks — and there’s little riskier than depriving weary citizens of their freedoms for uncertain gain — the middle of a major election year is not it.
...
The troubled vaccination rollout has poured fuel on the fire. As part of the European Union — which was slow to agree on a contract with suppliers and late to begin the rollout — Germany has struggled to vaccinate its citizens: Currently only 4 percent have had a vaccine. And when AstraZeneca, one of the manufacturers, announced in January that it would cut its supply to the bloc, political war broke out.
States, the parties in the governing coalition and the minister of health all frantically blamed each other — or Ms. Merkel and Brussels. Germans were left desperately trying to get hold of a vaccination appointment for their elderly kin.
After the failures of the past few months, Germany is in for a marathon. To bring the finish line closer, a different approach is gaining traction: A group of experts is currently promoting a strategy of “No Covid,” where lockdowns won’t be lifted until there are fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 inhabitants a week.
...
Opinion | How Germany Lost Control of the Virus (Published 2021)
The country excelled during the first wave. What went wrong the second time around?
