Friday, October 23, 2020

My Humble Observations Over Corona in Germany

 1.  Numbers now against March/April....a lot higher, and probably will exceed 30k new infections (per day) by Christmas period. 

2.  Another shut-down coming?  They will invent a word which has the look and feel of the spring shut-down (maybe 90-percent of what they did in the spring)....but deny that it's a real shut-down.

3.  Statistical data driving this up-swing?

The numbers go to 3 things: (1) Household passing....say kid #1 arrives from school....giving it to Dad, then Mom, and then kid #2. (2) Super-spreader events (weddings, birthday parties, group meetings).  (3) Travel situations (not necessarily hotels) but just traveling to another country, or using some mass-group situation.

(Focus brought up this topic today).

Getting it via buses or trains?  No data can prove that point now.  It's even getting difficult to prove the point that you are threatened by hanging out at restaurants or consuming beer at some pub.  

4.  Germans tiring of nightly Covid news?

This past week, my wife (German) admitted that she's reached a level where she doesn't want more than 90 seconds of Covid news (so it better be compacted to only essentials).  

I won't say the whole German public has gone this way, but I would imagine 50-percent of those over forty are getting tired of the topic.

5.  Toilet paper selling out?

Well....yeah.  In the past two weeks.....they started bulk-buying of toilet paper (again).  It was a big deal in March/April/May.  My local grocery (as of this morning) put up a sign....ONE single pack of toilet paper allowed to be purchased....per visit.  Half the shelves were empty as of that visit.  

To be honest, in the basement.....the wife has a four-to-six-month supply already sitting there, and it's hard to grasp why this one single item is sourced so often.  This being Germany, I'd be thinking beer or wine would the item folks went after.  Some folks are sitting there with a two-year supply stashed in the basement already.

6.  Folks disobeying the mask deal?  Since May (directed rule)....I've only seen 3 cases where someone did a shop visit without a mask.  On trains and buses....no one skips the rule.

7.  The numbers change constantly....but in general....98-to-99 percent of folks on quarantine....do it at home.  If you find some German who got the slip to enter the hospital....he or she....is absolutely bad off.  

8.  New ventilation fans for schools and offices?  Lot of development work going on and you'd be shocked at the filtering concepts coming up of university study groups.  Some are reasonable....some are ultra-expensive.  For 2021....I would imagine a ton of money will be spent by schools around the nation for the new technology.

9.  Finally, home-office work is probably going to remain....even after the vaccinations start up.  

1 comment:

oatka said...

The Media in the U.S. is in full "Panic Porn" mode - reporting "alrming increases) or spikes in "cases". What they don't, and apparently it's the same in Germany, tell about how many of that number had to be hospitalized.

Another spin is the number of ICU beds available. One report screamed "St. Louis area hospitals at 85-90% capacity due to pandemic" (not seperating out the virus patients). One hospital guy pointed out that those beds are just a small portion of the total beds availabke. What they don't say is that 92% of the designated ICU bed are full.

I imagine you run into the same crap over there.

On another note, I particularly liked the post on Kontrollverlust. Most Democrat Governors here are going through that. California's Newsom is doubling down with his Thanksgiving edict: (URL rather than the list - you might already have read it): https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/20/california-just-declared-war-on-thanksgiving-with-kafka-level-regulations/

Gotta love these guy's Power Trips.