COVID-19 is spreading around the world, and according to recent reports from the Robert Koch Institute in Germany reported on by Thompson Reuters, there is a fear that COVID-19 could spread prolifically in Germany and bring about disastrous economic consequences.
The Robert Koch Institute for disease control said in a daily bulletin the number of people each sick person now infects – known as the reproduction rate, or R – had risen to 1.1. When it goes above 1, it means the number of infections is growing.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, bowing to pressure from leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states to restart social life and revive the economy, announced on Wednesday measures that included more shop openings and a gradual return to school.
At the same time, she launched an “emergency brake” to allow for the reimposition of restrictions if infections pick up again.
Karl Lauterbach, a Social Democrat lawmaker and professor of epidemiology, warned that the new coronavirus could start spreading again quickly after seeing large crowds out and about on Saturday in his home city of Cologne.
“It has to be expected that the R rate will go over 1 and we will return to exponential growth,” Lauterbach said in a tweet. “The loosening measures were far too poorly prepared.”
The Robert Koch Institute said on Sunday the confirmed number of new coronavirus cases had increased by a daily 667 to 169,218, while the daily death toll had risen by 26 to 7,395.
CLOSE MONITORING
“It is too early to infer whether the number of new infections will continue to decrease as in the past weeks or increase again,” the institute said in a separate daily bulletin issued on Saturday evening.
It cautioned that the R figure was subject to statistical uncertainty, adding: “The increase of the reproduction number R necessitates a close monitoring of the situation.”
Germany has the sixth-largest COVID-19 caseload in Europe but has managed to contain fatalities from the highly infectious respiratory disease thanks to widespread and early testing and a healthcare system that is well-run and well-funded. (source)
Remember the words of Hans Frank. If Germany experiences heavey economic problems for five to ten years, the son of the former National Socialist governor of Poland warned that Germany could become National Socialist again. The possibility is very real and is more real now than even a decade ago.
COVID-19 is already decimating the German economy. If the cases become worse in the European powerhouse, then Frank’s dire predictions may come true, for the trends are already in motion, and all it would likely take is an economic crisis to bring this to pass.
The cases are bad in Russia and the US, but if Germany becomes overwhelmed, it may bring about disaster for the entire world.