Freedom Is the Comprehension of Necessity

" Freiheit ist Einsicht in die Notwendigkeit" is a sentence from the preface of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's" Basics of the philosophy of law." Here is the German text of" Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts" tltr;.

The title of this blog is a common thread in the recent developments of the Corona pandemic in Germany.

Science and Reason

Despise just reason and science, Man's* supreme gifts - Then you have submitted to the devil And you must perish. *N.B. Other genders are included

Verachte nur Verstand und Wissenschaft, des Menschen allerhöchste Gaben – so hast dem Teufel dich ergeben und mußt zugrunde gehn.

While during the initial phase of the fight against Corona, Mephisto's warning in Goethe's Faust was the guiding principle, we are now entering a critical period of impatience and protest. The reason is that in Germany, due to the known and applied protective measures, the number of active Corona cases declined and is now constant at about 2,000 per day.

Excessive Fascisization of Civil Life

The photo reminds me of Schiller's Song of the Bell:
Dann werden Weiber zu Hyänen (Then women turn into hyenas).

This led to a "Hygienedemo" in Berlin where the left and right-wingers, along with religious zealots, gathered in front of the Volksbühne to protest against the hygienic restrictions still in place.

Naturally, these people came in close contact with each other and the police. For them, the Coronavirus causes a "comparatively mild wave of infection," which in no way justifies a "de facto dictatorial emergency regime" and the "excessive fascisization of civil life." According to the protesters, the restrictions are being fired by a "conspiracy of global corporations" behind the measures.

Öffnungsdiskussionsorgien

Although the demonstration illustrated above is somehow unique, the cautious opening of public life last Monday has led to Öffnungsdiskussionsorgien (discussion orgies about opening measures). This new word coined by our chancellor has a great chance of becoming Germany's word of the year. As a physicist, Angela Merkel noticed that the interpretation of the opening rules agreed upon by the Federal Government and the German States twelve days ago went overboard.

The chancellor warned that Germany was on "the thinnest ice," and implementations of the rules "worry me ... they appear to be very bold, maybe too bold."

In fact, the country is loosening more and more. Even shopping malls are opening because suddenly, every shop is smaller than 800 square meters. The administrative court of Hamburg overturned the rule that only small shops are allowed to reopen. However, the basic idea behind the practice is limiting people's density in shopping districts.

Who Needs a New T-shirt?

But there is deception on the other side, too. Instead of the expected rush of buyers in German cities last Monday, their number remained small. Some people are afraid to leave their houses because of the Coronavirus. In contrast, others don't patronize shops because they work reduced hours and keep and need their Kurzarbeitergeld (reduced-work compensation, i.e., 60% of their current salary) for food and lodging. For many persons, das Hemd ist näher als der Rock (Near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin or better Charity begins at home).

Who needs a new T-shirt or is looking for a new car? On the other hand, there is a boom in do-it-yourself and deep freezers in some sort of bunker mentality.

It Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

This statement by Hong Kong epidemiologist Gabriel Leung refers to the fight against the virus. At the same time, Governor Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia demands further relaxation in the hygienic restrictions.

Nobody really listens to Germany's leading virologists anymore. Berlin's Christian Drosten said, "I very much regret to see these days that we are just about to completely lose our lead."

Virologist Melanie Brinkmann from the Helmholtz Centre in Braunschweig warns, "We will get a second wave of infection even more severe than this one because it will take place all over Germany and be less localized, as was the case with the first wave."

Listening to people who know something about the subject is out of fashion. How all this will turn out remains to be seen.

The Numbers

Click on the graphic to enlarge it.

Here are Germany's total Corona cases (orange), the actual cases (red), as well as the number of recovered patients (green) as a function of time. The death toll is presented in black.

Although the number of people actually infected is decreasing, the criterion of whether a pandemic is under control is the reproduction rate R, i.e., how many persons one person afflicted with Covid-19 is likely to infect. If this figure is kept below one, the number of infected people will decrease with time.

Click on the graphic to enlarge it.

Here are the most relevant parameters for Germany in the form of a table. From left to right: known infection cases, their daily increase in percent, doubling time of cases in days (flattening of the curve), reproduction rate, the total number of deaths, and deaths as a percentage of known cases.

Another significant value is the incidence rate IR. The average IR for Germany is 137 per 100,000 people. The highest values are found for the districts of Tirschenreuth in Bavaria and Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, with incidence rates of 1,513 and 680, respectively. In the first district, a carnival session, and in the other district, the mid-lent strong-beer fest was at the origin of a significant infection cluster. This shows that alcohol-driven Volksfests are the ideal breeding grounds for SARS-CoV-2, a fact that finally led to the cancellation of "the" Oktoberfest this year.

Freiburg

Presently, the city of Freiburg has an incidence rate of 401 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Here the Wine Festival (July 1-6), the Tent Music Festival (July 15 - August 2), and the Schlossbergfest (July 30 - August 2) will not take place on the planned dates.

The city of Freiburg is also putting its 900th-anniversary jubilee on ice. It is suspended until September 2020. Lord Mayor Martin Horn has proposed an extension of the anniversary to the city council until spring 2021. He said. "The Corona crisis is also a bitter setback for our anniversary. Now we want to replace the celebration with cohesion, solidarity, and creativity."

Mund-Nasen-Bedeckung (MNB)

This morning: An Antonov-124 unloads 9.6 tons of masks "Made in China" at Leipzig airport

The Robert Koch Institute proposed the term "mouth nose cover" to distinguish between professional masks and Volksmasken.

Red Baron had promised not to take any more selfies. But a correction is necessary, so here is my acquisition of a sturdier mouth-nose cover made of paper.

From Monday on, wearing MNBs is compulsory in shops and public transport all over Germany.

In an empty streetcar

Although experts keep telling us that MNBs only assure limited protection, it is astonishing that since the city of Jena issued its order for wearing MNBs in public places already three weeks ago, no new Corona infection has been registered.

Presently this is my only mask made from fabric, although I ordered more of those fashionable accessories likely to arrive next week.

Denn für dieses Leben ist der Mensch nicht schlau genug

While Corona is roaming, some people still don't comprehend the necessity of strict measures. As a reminder, they should read the statement of a lung specialist working on Corona patients in a German clinic, "I can imagine how hard it is to make political decisions in a situation like this. It is too easy to look back and say this, that, and the other could have been done better. But honestly? I didn't have a better idea, either. Right now, we have the situation well in hand, which counts."

N.B.: In 1928, Bertold Brecht wrote the "Song about the Inadequacy of Human Planning" with the line, "For this life man* isn't clever enough."
*Other genders are included

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