While Donald Trump says coronavirus “will go away, stay calm,” the leader of Germany is striking a very different tone. During a news conference in Berlin Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said:
“Given a virus for which there is no immunity and no immunization, we have to understand that many people will be infected, the consensus among experts is that 60 to 70 percent of the population will be infected,”
The New York Times reports:
In her first public appearance to address the pandemic, which has already infected more than 1,200 people in Germany, Ms. Merkel said that her government was following the advice of medical experts. She urged citizens to do the same.
“We are at the start of a development that we cannot yet see the end of,” Ms. Merkel told reporters. “But we as a country will do whatever is necessary to do, working within the European bloc.”
There are reportedly 1,296 cases of coronavirus in Germany with two deaths. The Los Angeles Times writes about why the death rate has remained so low in the country:
Germany has a widespread network of regional laboratories and was able to do extensive testing for coronavirus when it became known in recent weeks. It has one of the most expensive and extensive public healthcare systems in the world with national healthcare insurance for everyone.
Germany also is considered to have one of the world’s highest concentrations of hospitals — 1,900 for a population of 82 million. And workers, who traditionally see high levels of job security in the country, tend to stay home when they notice symptoms of an illness.