At least eight out of ten times, the talk commonly surrounds the automotive sector and the heights of its engineering prowess, whenever one gets around to discuss Germany. There’s much attributed to Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Porsche or the likes and it’s not hard to understand.
In fact, to put it simply, Germany’s automotive prowess pretty much holds the kind of essence that Paris’ Eiffel Tower holds in the minds of those who are bedazzled by its beauty.
But where the current scenario stands then the talks do not rest much with the famous and high-speed Autobahns or even the mastery of Germany’s Formula 1 drivers in the fastest sport in the world.
There’s much focus on the sphere of economics and healthcare. In fact, to put it succinctly, there’s a verve of astonishment that surrounds the holistic approach shown by the country to counter the very evil that’s struck grief elsewhere.
What else but the Coronvirus pandemic?
To elaborate, when recently the interior minister (of the ruling CDU party) and the Federal Minister of Health spoke to various Deutschland and Europe-based media, the common point of discussion was the success with which Germany countered what can only be called a menacing evil.
Wherever you see today, the dominant discussion concerns the high degree of success with which Germany tackled COVID-19, so much so that a range of the following activities have already begun in the country:
Resumption of inter-state travel
Resumption of the public means of transport including buses and trams
A firm consideration of opening of the Western European country’s borders, with the likes of France and Australia and so on and so forth
Now this leads to a question, one that perhaps deserves greater attention that extended:
How did Germany handle the growing concerns about an issue that we’ve seen has become a major killer of sorts?
Apparently, the first response to this point to what is actually a well-funded health system in the country. Now when one couples this with the access to technology and firm decision-making by a committed set of leaders, we realize that that is what makes the difference at the end of the day.
Another factor that has been widely acknowledged is that the country is determined at “building” public trust toward its healthcare system. And that’s where the key lies- doesn’t it?
In many other countries, there’s this sense of reluctance from the members of the society toward the nation’s healthcare system. True mostly for the developing countries in the world.
The fact that everyone gets full access to a proper healthcare system during the first sign of a medical urgency drives forth a positive change instead of countries that, on the contrary, act at the very last minute toward arranging what can be called bare-minimum of apparatus that can test and detect the anomaly.
We know how so many countries have struggled with arranging PE kits, which is only a basic element of the medical paraphernalia that’s needed during such times.
That being said, the following are the views of popular media platform WE Forum on the important matter:
Perhaps what may have worked in its favor was the fact that Germany was not the first country to be hit by the virus, and thus had time to prepare. While we have always kept a relatively large number of hospital beds available, particularly in intensive-care units, we also took the COVID-19 threat seriously from the beginning. Accordingly, the country’s ICU capacity was increased by 12,000 beds to 40,000 very quickly.
And finally, Germany is home to many laboratories that can test for the virus, and to many distinguished researchers in the field, which helps to explain why the first rapid COVID-19 test was developed here. With a population of around 83 million people, we are able to perform up to one million diagnostic tests per day, and will soon have the capacity to perform around five million antibody tests per month. Extensive testing is like pointing a flashlight in the dark: without it, you can see only shades of grey; but with it, you can see details clearly and immediately. And when it comes to a disease outbreak, you can’t control what you can’t see.