High levels of testing, age of patients and a strong healthcare system: how Germany became Europe’s first country to flatten the curve
The streets of the
hedonistic city of Berlin are eerily empty. As night approaches, bars and
restaurants are shuttered and streets are deserted. Even the drug dealers still
hanging around notorious Görlitzer Park are wearing disposable gloves. Unlike the UK, Italy, France and Spain, Germany has stopped
short of ordering a nationwide lockdown, instead opting for strict
social-distancing measures, including a ban on gatherings of more than two
people. Only the state of Bavaria, where the first cases were detected in
January, has announced a full lockdown.
Germany has so far
avoided the catastrophic levels of infection that have ravaged Spain and Italy:
by Wednesday, 181 people had died from Covid-19 with
35,714 confirmed cases. In comparison, more
than 6,800 people have died in Italy, and more than 3,400 in Spain. Cases have
topped 69,000 and 47,000 respectively. Germany’s low
mortality rate has puzzled experts. One theory is that it may be due to
the disease spreading amongst a younger age group. According to the Robert Koch
Institute (RKI), Germany’s main agency for disease control, the average age of
those who have tested positive for coronavirus is
47 years old.
In Italy, where the mortality rate is 9 per cent, the average age
of sufferers is 63. Experts
believe that Germany’s major outbreaks stemmed from carnival
celebrations and young people returning from ski trips in Italy and Austria.
Elderly citizens are also less likely to live with younger members of the
family than those in southern Europe. Germany has also
looked at the crisis developing in other countries and made sure its healthcare
system is ready.
“We have been on high
alert since January, when the first cases were detected, and we have had time
to prepare,” says Professor Marilyn Addo, head of infectious diseases at
University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf. She adds that Germany has learnt
from other countries and has been stocking up on test kits and respirators. The
high levels of preparation mean Germany has even had capacity to take in a
number of critically ill Italian patients – six arrived at Leipzig airport in
the eastern state of Saxony on Tuesday morning.
The country also has
one of the most robust public health systems in the world, spending $5182 per
capita on healthcare, compared to the UK’s $3377. There are nevertheless
concerns that it may still not be able to deal with an outbreak the size of
Italy’s. “I think we have
prepared as well as we possibly can, at this time,” says Addo. “In our hospital
we have seven Covid patients in intensive care, and we have enough ward space
for many more.”...
