Keep Wearing Those Masks, Germany

They’re working wonders. During your second lockdown “light.”

Surge

German Covid Cases in ICU Hit Record as Pandemic Intensifies – Germany has more severe Covid-19 patients than at any point since the pandemic began, underscoring the urgency facing authorities to contain the disease.

Europe’s largest economy had 2,978 people being treated for the coronavirus in intensive care facilities on Monday, exceeding the previous peak of 2,933 on April 18, according to the DIVI register of German ICU capacity.

Merkel Urges Germans to Stick to ‘Wave Breaker’ Virus Curbs.

German Of The Day: Querdenker

That means “unconventional” thinkers. Or mavericks. Or contrarians, if you prefer.

Querdenker

These include, for instance, the 20,000 protestors in Leipzig who refuse to accept the German government’s Corona party line and are energetically expressing their growing dissatisfaction with the latest lockdown “light.”

“Corona party” (Corona party line) has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

Nach dem „Querdenker“-Chaos brannten Barrikaden.

Germany On A “Fresh High”

A fresh coronavirus high of 20,000. The Germans are still high on their last coronavirus high (thinking that their restrictions will get this under control), but still.

Corona

New cases in Germany climbed to a fresh high, while unprecedented numbers of Covid-19 patients are in intensive care in Belgium…

Germany registered a record increase in new cases, days after the government imposed the toughest restrictions since a national lockdown in the spring.

Europe’s biggest economy had 31,480 new infections in the 24 hours through Thursday morning, bringing the total to 608,611, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The figures have fluctuated wildly in recent weeks, with daily infections falling to the lowest in almost two weeks on Wednesday.

We Can Do It!

Again. I mean, we can’t do it again. But still. We will.

Merkel

The first “heavy” Corona lockdown didn’t work back in March so we’ll try a “lockdown light” now. Makes sense to me. If you ask her. But that’s only because she’s been in power since Christ was a corporal and lost all touch with reality long ago. Well, at least since 2015.

Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to Germans to obey expansive new restrictions throughout November, holding out the prospect of more freedom in the run-up to Christmas if the second coronavirus wave is pushed back.

“If we stick it out for one month, that can be a barrier in this second wave.”

Even The German Public Is Starting To Get It

On the one hand, as the Washington Post itself put it: “Germany and France announce new national lockdowns, saying they have lost control of the coronavirus.”

Corona

On the other hand, the German government, for its part, still pretends that it has the situation under control and is trying desperately to prove this to the German public by introducing ever more restrictive measures. Das Chaos ist perfekt, in other words. Everything is perfectly chaotic.

German hostility to Merkel’s coronavirus shutdown grows – Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s 16 state premiers spent four hours deliberating before announcing drastic measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The question now is how the Germans will react.

 

“Germany’s Smart, Simple Formula for Fighting Its Coronavirus Spike”

Isn’t working. And won’t work (in the mid- to long term). Their smart, simple formula last March (the big lockdown) didn’t work either.

Covid

But none of your readers are interested in that. You’ve trained them well.

When it’s come to fighting the coronavirus crisis, Germany has been a model among Western nations. Under Chancellor Angela Merkel’s leadership, the country’s swift and organized initial response to the pandemic kept deaths low and quickly pushed case rates down to a controllable level. Its successes have in many ways stood as the starkest contrast to America’s scattered, disastrous response—proof that a large democracy with a federal form of government could, in fact, get a handle on the disease.

But…

PS: Always remember that everything before “but” was a lie.

German Of The Day: Gastro-Lockdown

That means gastro lockdown. You know, as in gastronomy lockdown?

Gastro

It’s coming to Germany. Wow, and this in a country that has Corona under control (if you watch American mainstream media news). Angela “we can do it” Merkel will be announcing today and making sure that – take a deep breath now – restaurants, bars, clubs discotheques, pubs, as well as theaters, opera houses, concert houses, whore houses, casinos, amusement parks, film theaters, sport clubs, betting shops, swimming pools and gyms will be closed down for a bit. For our own protection. Not necessarily for the people who work there or own them, of course, but still. It’s a start. And what a whore house and some of the others there have to do with gastronomy I’ll leave up to you.

Otherwise though, everything else can remain open. For now.

Unter anderem sollen Gastronomiebetriebe sowie Bars, Clubs, Diskotheken, Kneipen und ähnliche Einrichtungen geschlossen bleiben. Gleiches soll für Theater, Opern, Konzerthäuser, Messen, Kinos, Freizeitparks, Spielhallen, Spielbanken, Wettannahmestellen, Bordelle, Freizeit- und Amateursportbetrieb, Schwimm- und Spaßbäder und Fitnessstudios gelten.

If Only The United States Could Get Covid Under Control Like The Europeans Have

Not, I mean. Take Germany, for example. Please.

Covid

Despite doing everything right (just ask the government, they’ll tell you they have) Angela Merkel is now considering a “lockdown light.”

Global report: Merkel says Germany faces ‘difficult months ahead’ in Covid fight – Chancellor says country is on verge of losing control as Europe death toll passes 250k.

“We are seeing very, very high positivity rates and an increasing lack of capacity to do any effective form of contact tracing, which is going to further drive the disease into darkness.”

German Of The Day: Impfstoffnationalismus

That means “vaccine nationalism.” Now, what that might mean in English I have not the slightest idea. This guy is always coming up with odd word constructions.

Nationalismus

But hey, it’s his job. At least I think that’s what he does for a living.

Coronavirus: Germany warns against ‘vaccine nationalism‘ – Nations must work in a spirit of cooperation rather than selfishness in the fight against coronavirus, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed. His appeal came at the start of the World Health Summit in Berlin.

“No-one is safe from COVID-19; no-one is safe until we are all safe from it. Even those who conquer the virus within their own borders remain prisoners within these borders until it is conquered everywhere.”

 

Good Practice Makes Perfect

Not. Keep those face masks on while watching the numbers climb, Germany.

Germany

14,000 new Covid19 infections a day, and climbing.

Germany grapples with coronavirus spike months after it was hailed for good practice.

After being lauded for its response to Covid-19 after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government flattened the curve this spring, Germany is now grappling with more than 10,000 daily coronavirus infections, the most it has seen since the outbreak started, and admissions to hospital intensive care units have doubled in the last two weeks.

“There are already speeches being held praising the German success, but it is not quite clear where it came from.”