GERMANY HOW DEFEATED COVID19(CORONA VIRUS)AT THE END OF FIRST WAVE OF CORONA

GERMANY HOW DEFEATED COVID19(CORONA VIRUS)AT THE END OF FIRST WAVE OF CORONA

 In mid-2020 as the corona virus pandemic was exploding around the world. This is what the situation looked like right here in Germany, the country was hailed the world's shining star of covid19 containment Germany. Germany by comparison where hospitals are not yet overwhelmed but the number of deaths in Germany has remained lower than many other countries.

             Now things look very different than they did last summer while countries like the UK and Israel are going back to normalcy. Germany has been under some form of lockdown for over

six months on Germany's intensive care wards. This is what the third wave looks like hospitals have been pleading with the government to tighten restrictions going on like this will destroy the economy will destroy the people and will cost lives. So how did we get here how did Germany a country known for its efficiency love of planning and rationality lose control of its covid19 response problem one indecision.

        

Germany was able to flatten the first coronavirus curve by acting fast in March 2020 politicians were quick to impose an almost complete lockdown as the second wave started picking up speed, critics say decision makers underestimated the virus much to the frustration of scientists who had called for harsher measures much earlier it was November when politicians finally took action they imposed a partial lockdown needless to say this partial lockdown was only partially successful not only are these measures still in place but they've been tightened Germany never went into a complete lockdown politicians were hesitant to fully shut down workplaces such as factories on top of that new variants have made the virus more aggressive criticism of politicians indecision has grown louder moments the inability of politicians to quickly decide on uniform measures it's partially down to how the country is governed.

           

Germany is a federal republic decision making is not centralized in the hands of the chancellor in Berlin instead each of the country's 16 states has its own government which can decide on things like law enforcement or education this system is there for a reason Germany evolved from hundreds of little royal states after world war ii federalism was enshrined in law to avoid falling into a dictatorship ever again but this system also means when it comes to fighting the pandemic that every government has the right to decide on its own rules in an attempt to find a unified approach there have been regular discussions between chancellor Angela Merkel and the 16th state premiers which unlike the spread of the corona virus can be very ,very slow these meetings would sometimes last 4 hours.

         

They would go into details like should schools open what about hairdressers would a curfew help and the list goes on in the end there would often  be no uniform measures to combat the virus people in the population are frustrated nobody knows anymore what the regulations are right now I think it's chaos especially if you look at the different vaccination strategies in early April a poll showed that four out of five Germans are unhappy with how the federal and state governments are handling the pandemic another reason why Germany  hashed a hard time getting out of this ongoing lockdown and fighting the pandemic is bureaucracy in a pandemic tracking cases is crucial to break down infection chains and slow down exponential growth in Germany it's the over 400 Gesundheits empta or public health departments that are in charge of tracking infections their methods are sometimes very out dated they are still working with mostly with pen papers telephone they try to do contact tracing and it doesn't really work covet has exposed just how antiquated Germany's bureaucracy actually is for example how much it relies on this. This is a fax machine a technology that's nearing its 170^th birthday fax machines will scan in an image on one side transmit it through a phone line and print it out again  on the other side magic in Germany these things were used to transmit covid19 test results foreign an army of German bureaucrats retyping facts covid 19 test results back into their computers this was the reality in Germany's healthcare centers until January of 2021. When the country's health minister made the following steps:

1-Gave the guide lines  their public through various media sources.

2-Quik Active plan create through basic health units gave all health facilities to the  corona  patients.

3-Launch a complete campaign for awareness about corona virus, how to protect the people themselves? If they acted various instructions and social distance?     

          

 Bureaucracy also played a role in the vaccine rollout of course the rollout was slow because Germany doesn't yet have the doses it needs but even with the vaccines that are available getting an appointment can be frustrating initially those entitled to a vaccine were notified by snail mail.

             Then they would have to call a hotline or go online to schedule an appointment call centers and online services were overwhelmed in one case one woman reported she had to call almost 100 times to get through here's one particularly hair-raising example vaccine appointments are organized by priority groups the elderly for example are up first but in lower saxony the authorities had trouble generating a list with people over 80.

           

So the post office had to resort to writing letters to people with old fashioned names like fritz Hans or Ado if despite all the problems along the way Germany's vaccination campaign is slowly but surely picking up speed and it's not just picked up speed it's really gained momentum the country is getting more vaccine doses citizens who qualify for a vaccine can get their shots at their family doctors and not just in the big vaccination centers a new federal corona virus law has been passed it requires all states to implement a basic set of measures when covet 19 cases pass a certain threshold as infection rates fall doctors say these new measures will save thousands of lives politicians vying for the chancellorship in September's federal elections have made e-governance and digitalization a central point of their campaign goals the pandemic response has highlighted many of Germany's shortcomings in areas such as digitalization and bureaucracy things that will have to be dealt with by the next generation of policy makers if the country hopes to regain its reputation of being a world leader in efficiency you.