6 April, 2020
Germany has drafted a plan to scale back its coronavirus lockdown and allow a gradual return to public life, although Chancellor Angela Merkel says it is still too early to end restrictive measures.
Germany’s Interior Ministry wrote the measures, which include a list of steps that require masks to be worn in public, a limit on public gatherings and tracing infection chains to control any future spreading of COVID-19, Reuters reported.
The document, seen by the outlet on Monday, assumes the pandemic will last until 2021.
Germans have been under lockdown since March 22. The order is set to expire on April 19, but German officials say it could be a long time before the lock down is scaled back.
Merkel told reporters Monday at a press briefing that it is too early to discuss an end date to restrictive measures as “we’re still living in the pandemic.”
“We would be a bad government if we did not intensively, day and night, consider how we can take steps to return to ordinary life while still protecting health,” Merkel said, adding that she’d be a bad chancellor if she set an immediate date to end restrictions.
The drafted plan says its measures will be enough to keep the average number of people infected by a single person below one whenever the country ends its lock down.
While strict social distancing measures will remain in place, stores will be allowed to reopen, along with schools in select regions, and border closures will be relaxed. Private parties and other large events will remain banned, according to the new plan.
The document says a system is in place capable of allowing officials to track more than 80 percent of people who have had contact with an infected person within 24 hours of diagnosis. The infected and those who have been in close contact with them will face quarantine at home or in hotels.
The virus has sickened at least 100,132 people in Germany and killed 1,584 as of Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported that the 3,677 new cases Monday were notoriously lower than the 5,936 new infections on Sunday, marking the fourth straight drop in the daily rate of new cases.
© Fox News 2020
PM Johnson to IC.
From NYT:
Trust in Government
Beyond mass testing and the preparedness of the health care system, many also see Chancellor Angela Merkel’s leadership as one reason the fatality rate has been kept low.
Ms. Merkel, a trained scientist, has communicated clearly, calmly and regularly throughout the crisis, as she imposed ever-stricter social distancing measures on the country. The restrictions, which have been crucial to slowing the spread of the pandemic, met with little political opposition and are broadly followed.
The chancellor’s approval ratings have soared.
“Maybe our biggest strength in Germany,” said Professor Kräusslich, “is the rational decision-making at the highest level of government combined with the trust the government enjoys in the population.”
We see much of the same in Norway as in Germany, low death rate compared to Sweden and people have trust in our government
I am not sure about that. The fatality rates cannot be compared between countries. I think it is a bad article. Other countries test way less. Germany had a lot of test kits so they are testing a whole lot of people, while neighbouring countries only test those at are at risk such as as healthcare staff or that have symptoms.
Of course the fatality rate is low if you also register people that show no symptoms or very little, as probably the majority or at least a large share is infected without being aware of it.
I do believe Germany was way better prepared than its neighbours. They have lots of equipment and staff, and they also treat Dutch people and Italian patients, and still they aren’t close to their maximum capacity. In the Netherlands, hotels are being converted to hospitals and more than half of all intensive cares are makeshift facilities.
Still I am not sure if the fatality rate is truly lower, as I think it depends more on demographic features than healthcare, because there is no cure for Corona so hospital treatment probably does not differ too much. If the population is older, more people will die.
Add to this that countries have different cultures: very old people over here get the question whether they even want treatment, as the chances of recovery are small. In Italy, they treat everyone, regardless of age and overall health. The number of corona deaths will be lower, but that doesn’t mean they won’t die of something else.