American Covid-19 Story Continues

 Over the past two days, a lot of hype has been generated around Garmisch, the state of Bavaria, and Germany itself....over this US Army female who was a Covid-19 'spreader'.  The basic story here....she had symptoms...she went to a facility and was tested and told to take quarantine measures.  The idiot then went out and partied....infecting a minimum of twenty folks.  

So the news has taken over the topic, and there are three slants to this:

1.  Maximum consequence need to fall into place (2k Euro fine, jail-time, etc).  In this news slant....there is a belief that the US military will just 'let' her walk away with no punishment, and that there is no treaty to handle this....so things need to be worked out or arranged. 

The idea of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)?  The one that has been around for decades?  Non-existent.  Even politicians from Bavaria are talking around like there's no agreement on how to handle this, and everyone needs to start at start-up point and make something up out of thin air.

2. 'Spreaders' are generating a lot of hype and it's possible that even more rules and extreme consequences may come out of this.....where quarantine no longer means staying in your house....that you'd be picked up by the police and taken to some compound.  

A lot of chatter is existing over how this Army member just walked out of the clinic...never grasping the meaning of quarantine.

3.  Finally, some of this chatter is about an anti-American slant, and asking why the US remains in Germany.  It has nothing to do with Covid-19 and simply politicizes the topic even more.

What should really happen at this point?  The local prosecutor in Garmisch should just bundle up the forty-page facts package, and sit down with US Army officials to hand over the package, and let them go to the SOFA agreement....using the correct tools, and prosecute the female in the Army fashion (losing a stripe, paying a fine, doing some in the 'brig', or possibly being tossed out of the Army).  

The behavior of acting that SOFA doesn't exist?  This is an ongoing trait of the Merkel government (going on for twenty-odd years) that rules and procedures aren't written down, and you need to re-invent the process each single time. The SOFA exists to ensure standardized rules and processes.  Once you abandon it....then stability goes out the front-door. 

I don't have a problem in suggesting this action by the young lady was awful stupid and demonstrates a behavioral pattern.  She deserves a few consequences out of this whole episode.  

Bordello in a Covid-19 Era

 I got up and watched N-TV news (commercial news) this morning, and there's this one curious story over German hookers and Covid-19.

For a number of months, across Germany....prostitution facilities (bordellos) were ordered to be shutdown because of Covid-19 ban rules.  Well, in the last ten days, the rules changed in a couple of states (not nationally) and business is going to be reopened. 

In Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg....they added some extra rules.  For example, you can only hooker-up, in a actual licensed bordello.  These campers and RV hooker operations aren't part of the deal.  

Second, you can only have a one-on-one situation....meaning one hooker....one customer.  A three or four situation?  Strictly illegal by Covid-19 rules.

Third, facial masks?  Required for both people.  

Fourth, appointments are required.  The idea that you advertise and keep a calendar? 

Fifth, all contact data (on the customer) has to be maintained.  You can imagine Johan's phone ringing, the wife answers, and the authorities explain to her that Johan had spent Thursday afternoon with a hooker who has tested positive for Covid-19.  This probably won't go over well.

Where this leads onto?  The rules added probably will cancel out fifty-percent of the normal business.  

The Wednesday Merkel 'Threat'

 Today in a public statement, Chancellor Merkel basically said that a Moria 'plan' must occur by Wednesday.  What does that mean?  Unknown.

The Health Minister (Spahn, CDU) commenting on this statement?  He basically said the 2015 disaster period where no control or plan existed....cannot be repeated. 

To sum up the Moria situation....a fire took place in a marginal migrant compound area on the isle of Lesbos, Greece (about 20 miles off the coast of Turkey).

The compound, housing around 13k temp refugees (for over two years)....was not appreciated or desired by the island residents (the Greeks).  

The EU plan presented late last week?  Rebuild the camp, in a more modern fashion....something that the Greeks don't want.  I might suggest that the migrants don't want it either....they want to get the ticket to Germany.

What might happen here?  One of two options.....throw the German military behind the rebuilding act and have the job finished in 30-odd days.  Would the island residents allow this to happen?  Unknown.  The second option.....round up three or four European countries (France, Spain and Belgium), and simply split the group up (with Germany likely taking 6k of them).  

The negative of the second idea?  It churns up the AfD Party and brings criticism back on Merkel.  Add to this idea....several other compounds exist in Greece, and those folks might get smart to burn down their compound....to get the same deal.  

Habits That Americans Tend to Lose in Germany

Updated.   

To be honest....most Americans will try to blend in and be a nice guest of Germany.  Yeah, we might over-consume their beer.....pig out on their fine pork dishes....and push twenty-year old BMWs to the absolute limit on autobahns....but we also still do American-style bar-b-q's, drink Mountain Dew occasionally, and have a preference for American TV programming.

So this is my list of the ten habits that we tend to lose:

1.  American-style breakfast.  The great 1,000-calorie American breakfast, with all the fat and grease.....tends to disappear.  We will be drawn to the German-style....croissants, jelly, paper-thin ham or salami, harsh coffee, and raisin-rolls.  When you do see breakfast offered at a local bakery....it'll amount to roughly 700 calories at best, with almost no fat.

2.  Acceptance of marginal beer.  Maybe while living in the US....you have accepted drinking Bud-Light or PBR.....but once you arrive in Germany....you will settle upon minimum requirements.  You simply won't accept marginal tasting beers any longer.  When someone offers up a chocolate-blend German beer.....you will accept it with no hesitation.  You will find tables of Americans who've been in Germany for a while....who discuss at length the fine quality of such-and-such German beer versus this other fine German beer, instead of discussing trailer-trash women or the best hunting rifle for wild boar.

3.  Driving safely at 55 mph.  Once you get around to the autobahn system, and have driven at 90 mph for a while....it's hard to avoid high speeds.

4.  Beef over pork.  It takes about a year for you to state a preference change from beef to pork.  Over that year, you will experience twenty-five different pork dishes and reach some conclusion that pork simply cooks better than beef....course, you can only say that if it's a German in the kitchen.

5.  Cars over public transportation.  If you live in an urbanized area like Stuttgart, Frankfurt or Berlin....you reach a stage where use of public transportation wins every single time.  You will have some app on your smart-phone and know the three connections to get from your house to such-and-such address in 45 minutes.  You don't worry about parking.....you don't worry about traffic jams....you get used to popping on your headphones and playing music in the background.

6.  Cheap chocolate.  After you've tried a dozen-odd German chocolates.....you come to this point of swearing off Snickers or any cheaply made chocolate.  Oh, I admit.....there are some cheaply made German chocolates, but after you've tried the good stuff, why would go back to any American cheap chocolate?

7.  The hamburger.  There are McDonalds and Burger Kings across Germany, and they attract a fair number of Germans, and the handful of Americans who reside here.  But after a while, you start to show diminished desires for burgers.  I might have four or five occasions a year when I will stop off for a quick lunch or dinner at Micky D's, but it's just not on the top ten list anymore.

8.  The American car.  After you've sat in a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, or finer European-brand car....you tend to notice little faults or lesser-designed items on American-made cars.  Oh I agree....some brands were death-traps (the Smart, the "duck", the old British-made Mini).  But after you've sat in a Mercedes W123 (even if it was 15 years old).....you simply sit and admire the quality and engineering involved in the car.  It's hard to go back and find the same efforts with American-made cars.

9.  Bowling.   Every German town has probably one single bowling alley still in operation, but you tend to find that Germans just don't bowl much and it's one of those odd activities for entertainment.

10.  Planes versus trains.  If you want to make some big trip within Europe.....instead of a trip out to the airport and a 90-minute flight to Vienna....you might stop and consider an ICE-train and spend six hours cruising across the southern half of Germany.....onto Vienna.  The ease of railway travel entices you.  You can make reservations.....arrange for a stop-over....and avoid all the security issues of airports.

Swine Export Hurt

 In a normal year, up until 2020.....Germany had made around 1-billion Euro in pork exports to China.  To be very honest about it, it was an expanding business, and that export route alone....was roughly two-thirds of the whole German swine market.

In the past six months, this African-Swine fever business had started up, and it's scared off business.....so that billion in trade to China is practically gone.

Japan?  That market in the past week, has also been cut-off (figure around 40k tons of German pork that went to that market).

N-TV covers a good bit of the story in the AM today.

What'll happen now?  Heavy German government investment is now required....to build up program and wipe out the fever business....restoring 'trust' in the market.  Amount of time required?  Anyone's guess, but one might suggest it being at least 2022 before the market is restored.  

Damage done to the German farming market?  Substantial, and at a time when they really don't need anymore stress. 

Mail Story

 End of the German Post delivering mail on Mondays?  Probably.

N-TV got around to discussing this in the AM today.  

Part of this discussion is going on with worker-union negotiations, and the threat is laid out....maybe Monday delivery isn't necessary, and they can cut their budget by lessening employees.

What is part of this developing story?  Well....Covid-19 shutdown stuff drastically affected the amount of mail handled (11-percent drop over a 6-month period).  

Odds of this occurring?  Unknown.  It might be more of a threat for the union contract, or it might be that they've done the research and realize a lot of package delivery is now done by DHL, Amazon, Fedex or UPS.

As for angering Germans?  We are long past the era when daily mail mattered. 

German Election Business

 Yesterday was a municipal/city election day in the German state of NRW.  Naturally, it's in a high Covid-19 area and if you used US-logic....you'd assume that they went to mail-in voting procedures.  Well, NO....they did the standard German voting procedure....you show up, and vote in person.

I sat last night and observed the event....moderately covered by public TV.  

Folks showed up....did the 1.5-meter social distance thing.  Nice weather (25 to 30 C across most of Germany).  Sanitation wipe was available.  A couple of rules were inserted into the voting process, but it went as a normal election, in a particular German state with high infection numbers/deaths.

No problems other than exceptionally long lines because of the social distance rule in effect.

The folks doing the counting?  They had a video showing that process.  They sat at the tables in the hour or two after the election closed and touched the ballot papers.  Then they wiped up, and announced the numbers.  

All of this hyped-up worry that you see in the US or this mail-in-the-vote chatter?  Non-existent.  

As for 'winners'?  The CDU carried around 30-percent of the vote, and in second place....the Green Party with 20-percent.  The SPD Party was the loser in this particular election....a trend that has been going on for a while.

Covid-19 Fine Situation

 Yesterday, I told the story of the American military gal who ventured into Garmisch (at the US military resort hotel), and had Covid-19.....passing it around over a day or two while obviously having symptoms.  

The resort will be shutting down tomorrow for a period of time (some suggest a week or two).  

A lot of frustrations in the city of Garmisch over her behavior....the symptoms should have been enough to self-quarantine (by their thoughts).

Well, if you watch N-TV today, there's chatter from the city leadership and Bavarian state leadership....that a fine should be issued.  State rules and fines?  Basically, the rules are set and the fine would be 2k Euro (roughly $2,400).  

Path here?  I'm guessing a judge will assess the situation (local guy), and the US Army will be contacted over the situation.  She won't appear until she's well and out of official quarantine.  At that point, she'll probably show up and ask for some mercy.....they might go for just a thousand Euro.  

The key thing here.....they have to make a point.