This proverb was the motto of opening the Corona lockdown at a toddling pace in Germany. Yesterday, the following easing measures were agreed upon and announced by the federal government and the governors of Germany's states.
On Monday, April 20, some shops will be allowed to reopen; however, only those with a surface of less than 800 square meters*, provided the necessary protections are in place to enable strict physical distancing (1.5 meters minimum).
*8600 square feet
While in the past, the media had often rebuked the patchwork rug of rules due to our federal structure, this time, Markus Söder emphasized its strength of federalism. The Corona situation varies in different parts of Germany*. Above all, cultural sovereignty is with the states, n.b. education.
*It is rather bad in Bavaria, partly caused by a crowded strong-beer festival in Tirschenreuth in March
So the timing is up to the governors when schools will open step by step in their states. Older students might be allowed back to school as early as April 27, although in a radically changed setup involving small groups, face masks, and physical distancing in school buses.
Germany will cautiously start its Gratwanderung (balancing act) of easing the lockdown. Although the number of new infections is decreasing, it is a dangerous path, for we are still in phase 2 of the epidemic, i.e., mitigating the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
Professor Wieler of the Robert-Koch Institut (RKI) insists on massive testing* to regain control over the spread of the Coronavirus. He would like to go back to phase 1, where single cases can be followed closely, and contact persons are quarantined.
*Currently, Germany is testing 100,000 people a day
Although this cartoon insinuates a black market for masks, Red Baron was able to replace his torn mask with a sturdier model. My pharmacy sold four masks for euro 9,90 (©T-Online/Mario Lars). |
And while our chancellor holds a doctorate in physics, she ended the press conference, as the NYT wrote, with detailed explanations of the science behind the government plan.
Ms. Merkel said, "The key variable is the so-called reproduction factor of the virus — the number of people an infected person passes the virus on to."
"That factor currently stands at about 1," she continued, "meaning that one person gets infected by every newly infected person. If that factor rose even to 1.1, the German health care system would reach capacity by October."
"If it were allowed to rise to 1.2 — so out of five infected people, one infects not one but two additional people — that limit is reached by July."
"With 1.3," Ms. Merkel continued, "we have reached the limit of our health care system by June."
"So you can see how small our leeway is," she said, "the entire development rests on having some infections that we can keep track of and trace."
The chancellor ended, "We need to understand that we need to live with this virus as long as there is no vaccine and no treatment."
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