In English I guess the saying would be "to think outside of the box" ... when doing so one of course has to take care, that one is not just jumping into another, smaller box ... or even a padded cell...
the notion that we are living in a 'corona dictatorship' is of course absurd, as demonstrated by the fact that those who make that claim, aren't dragged away by secret police and imprisoned, tortured, executed ...
And of course valid questions about the freedom of assembly were addressed very early on, stating that corona regulations cannot be used to announce blanket bans on demonstrations and public protests, rather these have to be given an opportunity to take place while adhering to the restrictions applying to everyone. If anything, police enforcement against protesters who deliberately and ostentatiously break the rules has been lenient.
They could be especially a lot more faster when deciding about anti-Corona regulations.
I guess since those are usually passed when "it's in the air" and everyone expects them, that is to some degree true.
However this is a situation where deciders can hardly win.
What if they decided on restrictions much earlier,
when there is only a small indication of increasing infections ... or it's only epidemiological modelling that indicates a likelihood that infections will rise? ... well then, if the regulations work, and infections stay low ... people will say the regulations were unnecessary, too early, alarmist etc.
On the other hand if they wait until the rise of infections is undeniable then it will take quite a while to see results, as all the existing cases have to work their way through the health system and virus transmissions that were already happening will only some time later show up as detected infections etc. and you may even get some voices saying again "the restrictions aren't working anyway".
Honestly, I have no idea why they haven't closed the schools and switched to online classes already (like they did during the first wave in spring).
Hmmm, I do have a bit of an idea why.
Because 'online classes', for many, do not exist...
In my son's school, (closed from the March lockdown till early June) we got one email per week with a PDF.
Then a month in, links to online multiple choice tests that had no connection to the school's curriculum.
And that was it.
Now of course one can say 'well if parents are at home they can 'pick up the slack with homeschooling'.
That is doable for instance if you are working half-time in your home office or something.
However not everybody has that option either.
Some people had to continue to work.
And also, no... the equipment to participate in videoconference education, or the necessary connection quality, isn't there for every child in school and their family either.
So this is a hard decision and I think today deciders understand more of the social downsides of simple lockdown approaches, and are reluctant to inflict it again unless there is really no other choice.
the federal financial support for companies suffering with the lockdowns is anything but fair (the big ones get almost everything immediately, the small ones get almost nothing and have to wait a long time for the support). - Although I have to say that I am not really affected by that, since I have the awesome privilege that I am able to work from home 100% and that the company I work for is doing alright despite the crisis.
Some of this is ridiculous especially for small entrepreneurs and people who just support their cost of living directly by some self-employed business. Those for instance were confronted with the rule that state support could only be used for 'cost of business' like say, rent for offices etc. but not for cost of living. So those who don't pay any relevant amount for 'corporate infrastructure' but simply work directly to live are hit hardest.
And it's also frustrating for instance for those restaurant owners who picked up a lot of money and invested in trying to provide arrangements that reduce transmission risks and now they get locked down like anyone else.
We are seeing a lot of smaller businesses going down, the services and products they offered will either be snapped up by big chains or replaced by the online giants, or just fall by the wayside. Despite her sometimes too fertile imagination, Naomi Klein has a point with her idea of the 'Shock Doctrine' ... every crisis is also an opportunity, ... in this case once again an opportunity to redistribute wealth and power to the top.
Sorry to hear that.. to me, Germany looks like utopia compared to the madness unfolding here (UK).. anyway, best wishes! We must get through this somehow!
I think so far Germany's policies have been lucky enough to avoid a catastrophic failure.
That's not due to any central genius plan though.
There have been many ways to fail with this ... some places that did very well with beating the first wave got complacent, others never really got serious despite having capability, some are too fanatically ideological, others hamstring themselves due to internal divisions and lack of trust, still others just got unlucky or hardly stood a chance.
