I’ll tell you what’s wrong in Germany on Covid, vaccines and green pass (not very Teutonic)
What is really happening in Germany on rising Covid infections, vaccines and (rather mild) restrictions. The in-depth study by Pierluigi Mennitti from Berlin
Health Minister Jens Spahn was not very foresighted a few days ago to announce the end of the pandemic emergency and the desire not to extend to November the special state that confers extraordinary powers on the federal government for the fight against Covid-19. Since he said that sentence, the contagion curve has started to rise again, after the cautious descent that had marked the weeks between September and October, doubling in just over seven days.
The now famous incidence of new weekly cases has in fact gone from just over 60 to 110 (data provided on Monday 25th by the Koch Institut ), a number that brings back the hands of the clock until last May. The state of emergency is the legal basis that has allowed a minimum of centralized coordination in the management of the pandemic crisis, standardizing as much as possible the containment rules of the 16 Länder and indicating a single guide for the procurement of masks, disinfectants, medicines.
Without this legal basis, the regions will return to having to manage each on their own, a not very promising prospect given the uncertainties revealed in winter during the second and third waves of Covid. Many presidents have asked at least to provide for a transition phase, so as to be able to prepare a new legal network on which to base the extension of some measures. The German bureaucratic machine is always very complex and in emergency phases the clumsiness engulfs precision and efficiency.
The return of the infections is a wave that the Germans have seen coming from afar. For days the dramatic news from neighboring countries to the east has overlapped: from Russia to Estonia, from Lithuania to Romania, from Croatia to Bulgaria , worrying news has slipped here and there among the post-election comments. They seemed distant dispatches, until the numbers returned to worry even in one's own home. Berlin has already exceeded the psychological figure of 100 incidence for a few days, while the districts that have always represented the epicenter of the infections have returned to color purple: the south-eastern ones of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia.
It is argued that the percentage of vaccinated people there is particularly low, and whether for the two eastern Länder (Saxony and Thuringia) the distrust with which citizens follow the indications of the authorities applies – they are strongholds of no-vax and conspiracy theorists – it remains a mystery. Bavarian case.
Some worrying signals are starting to arrive from the hospitals. The sustainability of the German health system is not in question, which has never suffered even in the most dramatic moments of recent winters, but the impression is that the pandemic is far from over and giving signs of relief can be fatal entering the cold season . The serious cases that end up in intensive care concern overwhelmingly unvaccinated, those of vaccinated can be counted on the fingertips and involve elderly people with previous illnesses.
In short, the vaccine shield works, but it is not enough, for two reasons. First: the share of fully vaccinated is relatively low, just over 65%, with levels below 60 in some eastern regions.
In addition to no-vax and various doubters (most recently Bayern and national team defender Joshua Kimmich was added, which naturally enlivened the media circus), there are large pockets discovered among foreign communities, especially in the neighborhoods of large cities. , difficult to reach, inform and convince to get vaccinated. Little is said about it, with the good intention of not rekindling prejudices, but the problem exists.
Second: the rules are still very loose. There are restrictions on attending restaurants, museums, cultural events, but the equivalent of the Italian green pass (which in Germany they call 3G) has not been introduced in the workplace. Just as it is possible to get on a train, no matter if short, medium or long distance, without even having a swab.
Even in schools, where the virus circulates thanks to the fact that no vaccines have yet been authorized for children, the safety rules have been relaxed: in some regions the obligation to wear a mask is no longer in force. Children breathe better but the consequences are in the numbers of infections.
It doesn't help that the government is now de facto on vacation. The new one is expected, which will not arrive before December, and the one still in office seems to have lost all bite.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/vi-racconto-cosa-non-va-in-germania-su-covid-vaccini-e-green-pass-poco-teutonico/ on Tue, 26 Oct 2021 05:18:46 +0000.