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Comment by rohan1024 | Hacker News Reader

I think Germany is handling this crisis really well[0].

Almost 20-25 days back, Merkel herself stated that they are expecting 70% people to get infected and that their main objective is to flatten the curve so as not to stress healthcare. It's hard in times like these to be so truthful about numbers(right from start) especially when other leaders were just denying the truth until the cases ramped up.

It also shows that the administration was listening to experts right from the beginning rather than playing the wait game or blatantly denying the seriousness of situation.

[0]: https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/02/the-latest-coronavirus...

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> I think Germany is handling this crisis really well

People are out in groups, in parks, drinking with friends, I see old people in line in supermarkets next to coughing people, no safety distance, no masks, supermarket shelves are more and more empty, people dinning with their entire family from toddlers to grand parents, &c.

I expect Merkel to announce an Italy/France style full lockdown in the next few weeks when they figure out that people simply don't care about what the gov is asking for.

Perhaps, but at least Germany is tackling this on the data front. They are performing over 160,000 tests a week [1]. That's more than most countries have tested in total.

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/c0755b30-69bb-11ea-800d-da70cff6e...

All over the press today that they will look at tomorrow’s (21.03.2020) population activity and make the lockdown decision based on that. In the region where I live (south of Aachen) it is visible that people take this serious. Distance is kept, not much traffic, streets generally empty, tourists are gone. But next week will be sunny. Let’s see.

> I think Germany is handling this crisis really well

The fact that it already came to a crisis is a problem. Why was border crossing travel still allowed for so long? Why did Germany still let people go to their vacations? Germany was one of the last countries to recognize Ischgl as a risk area while German tourists being the biggest group there. Had all of this happened, the cost for German society would have been much smaller than the current situation. We wouldn't need a curfew because the virus wouldn't have been here.

In fact, the entire EU failed for not issuing travel bans e.g. to China quickly enough, and not quarantining those who still are allowed to travel.

Very true. The entire EU also failed to co-operate during this crisis. And I fear that it will have a very adverse long-term effect on the EU as an institution. It was shown that in times of crisis, each country is alone. Sadly.

Unfortunately many essential things like masks and other protective gear are missing. They could have been ordered much earlier and kept in reserve, now everybody's out of stock of course. Kudos to the companies helping here with changing their production (Trigema apparently)

Countries are finding out that most government institutions for viral disaster preparedness were completely unprepared for this pandemic. Little to supplies stored, no plans ready before it hit, extremely slow responses.

> It also shows that the administration was listening to experts right from the beginning [...]

In times like this, it doesn't hurt that Merkel is a scientist. (She's a former professor of quantum chemistry.)

That said, as another commenter pointed out, social distancing is barely a thing here at the moment, and I expect we'll wind up in full lock down as a result.

> In times like this, it doesn't hurt that Merkel is a scientist. (She's a former professor of quantum chemistry.)

Her husband is/was. She's not a professor and not a chemist, she studied physics.

RE "social distancing": seems to be very different depending on where you are. It's pretty effective where I am, but I hear it's not in the large cities.

She did her PhD in quantum chemistry though.

No it isn't. There is almost no reaction from the general public in Germany, everyone is going about their normal lives as if nothing is going on.

Someone from Berlin here, my observed reality is quite different. Hospitals are massively preparing for the expected infections, people are largely staying at home and business are reorganizing to handle the crisis.

Sure there is still an observable portion of the citizens which seems to be in denial, but I guess this was to be expected.

Ah I got my information from someone in the NRW area and it was about half a week ago, I just synced up with them today and they said things are changing, but it does seem like a rather late response. Was mostly a counterpoint to the statement that Germany is handling this well.

Not quite. Toilet paper has been sold out for a week now.

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