Angela Merkel is currently being celebrated internationally.
What did you do right that the German corona numbers are comparatively low?
Angela Merkel
has experience of crises - she has had to prove that several times.
Internationally, she receives
praise
for the comparatively good
Corona numbers
in Europe.
Her knowledge, but also the German health system and a bit of luck, will help her.
Berlin -
Angela Merkel
(CDU *) has been German Chancellor * since
November 22, 2005
and has been moving from crisis to crisis since then.
The financial crisis in 2008, the discussion about the nuclear phase-out after Fukushima in 2011, the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, the wave of refugees in 2015 and now the
Corona crisis in
2020. Many commentators call her “Merkel, the crisis chancellor”.
Even in these Corona months, the recognition of your crisis management abroad is great.
As early as May 2020, the US television broadcaster
CNN took up
the fact which unusual measure it was taking to appeal to the Germans.
In a
televised address
that had nothing to do with her annual New Year's speech, in mid-March she called for joint action in solidarity *.
As
CNN
wrote at the time, it presented "the dire facts of the pandemic while offering a dose of compassion."
Hitting the right note - this is
important
in
times of crisis in
order to motivate the population to participate.
Drama in the statement, but calm, sober language that
exudes
trust
- Angela Merkel is said to have these qualities.
The
satisfaction of
the population with the
federal government
and its corona measures skyrocketed.
One or the other suddenly wished that Merkel would run again as Chancellor for four more years after 2021.
Angela Merkel in the video podcast - "We are now in a very serious phase of the corona pandemic"
In a report in the British daily The Guardian it is said: The quick action, for example with "extensive tests from the start", numerous
intensive care beds
and Merkel's direct approach to take the virus seriously, have made Germany better than many other countries Europe had come through the first corona wave.
This crisis could also be particularly important to Merkel because, as a
graduate physicist
*
with a doctorate brings a scientific background into everyday political life.
Two experts from the
German Marshall Fund of the United States
write that they use their knowledge to speak clearly about the virus
.
In doing so, however, she did not
lose sight of
the importance of
democracy
.
After all, it was and is a balancing act to adopt health security measures and uphold democratic freedoms.
Angela Merkel receives a lot of international praise for her Corona management in Germany
The German hype about
virologists
is also unusual.
“We don't have any respect for virologists like in Germany,” Focus.de quotes the Flemish Germany expert Dirk Rochtus from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Thousands of Germans listened in March and April to the podcast episodes of the virologist
Christian Drosten
from the Berlin Charité and watched the press conferences of the
Robert Koch Institute
.
Merkel has worked closely with scientists * from the start.
It is, so to speak, a golden conclusion about Angela Merkel, which international media present.
“The media here consider Merkel to be one of the strongest
leaders in
the world,” Amichai Stein, diplomatic correspondent for the Israeli public television broadcaster Kan, told
Deutsche Welle
.
All of @ OurWorldInData's data on COVID-19 testing has just been updated.
Latest positive rates in Europe:
🇺🇦 Ukraine: 17.2%
🇵🇱 Poland: 12.3%
🇪🇸 Spain: 10%
🇫🇷 France: 7.5%
🇮🇹 Italy: 6.3%
🇬🇧 United Kingdom: 5.9%
🇷🇺 Russia: 2.8%
🇩 🇪 Germany: 1.4%
(Source: https://t.co/z0HnOz4gb5) pic.twitter.com/rsK5lXMWEF
- Edouard Mathieu (@redouad) October 14, 2020
Merkel and Corona: A little luck is also part of the fight against coronavirus in Germany
But is the good balance only due to Merkel?
The English-language news portal Vox was also concerned about why the
number of cases
per million inhabitants
in Germany is
comparatively low and why the death rate is very low from the start compared to other Western European countries.
In their analysis they go one step further than the previously mentioned aspects of good
health care
in the country and the clear words of the Chancellor.
In summary, they consider four components to be decisive: happiness, learning processes,
local reaction
and listening.
The quick tracing of the first known German case at the
automotive supplier Webasto
already provided the health service and officials with useful experience, which could continuously be built on during the period of the pandemic.
Germany has also adopted findings from other countries and
quickly expanded
test capacities
such as in South Korea.
Vox also speaks to the federal system, which is hated by some.
Although some measures repeatedly cause confusion and the famous
"patchwork quilt"
is quickly on everyone's lips, the advantage is unmistakable: quick action and responsiveness to local needs.
It is of particular importance that politicians then still listen to scientists, even if new knowledge overturns and overtakes one another.
* Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network.