Q-and-A: Germany

 1.  How bad is the natural gas upswing on prices right now in Germany?

Well....for a family of four, moderate square meters for home, will pay around 1,930 Euro for the 'season'....equaling one-third more than it was in 2021.  That's the general situation for January 2022.  Will it still be at that level in 90 days?  Unknown.  If it were to rise another one-third over all of 2022....this would easily turn into some national crisis in Germany. 

2.  E-Car charging now a problem?

This got brought up today via Focus, and this German couple had done the 'feel-good-climate-thing'.....dumping their diesel car and getting a E-car.  So the electrical bills have gone drastically up, and the affordability of the E-car is now called into question.  Yeah, the couple has decided that charging costs are way more than what they estimated and they are dumping the E-car.

3.  How widespread are economic losses because of Covid on German society?

I noticed this discussion on N-TV news this morning.  There's a research center that looked at society, and says 43-percent of German families are reporting financial losses since this started.  One out of six say....there is no state/federal aid to filter down to them.....they were just dumped to the side of the 'road'.  

If you were looking for angry reasons why people aren't supportive of the ban-rules or government mandates....this is probably one of the top three reasons.

4.  Is there talk of limiting PCR tests (for Covid)?

Well, this gets interesting.  With so much Omicron around.....PCR tests have gone through the roof.  The labs are now saying.....there's this limit to what they can handle.

N-TV talked about this issue, and there's some points being given to the state governments....demanding they step in and restrict the PCR tests.  

There are two ways that these go.  One is the person pays for it himself (figure 49 to 79 Euro depending on the time requirement)....the other is where you go to the doctor, and cite symptoms....getting the doctor to test you and charge your health insurance (usually 79 to 99 Euro). 

The problem with this discussion?  If you wanted to claim 'recovered' status later...you HAVE to do the PCR test as evidence.  So if they restrict you on this....they screw up the general path of the past twelve months.