Germany moves to seal off borders to fight coronavirus pandemic

[denem]

Source: Financial Times

Germany is to close its borders with neighbouring countries including France, the latest in a string of tough actions by EU member states to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The move by Berlin to shut the borders with Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Denmark will come into force at 8am on Monday and marks an abrupt volte-face by Angela Merkel’s government.

She had previously argued in favour of close co-ordination between member states and against unilateral actions to slow the spread. As recently as Wednesday, Ms Merkel had said EU countries “should not be isolating ourselves from one another” and that they needed to adopt a “unified approach that is, as far as possible, co-ordinated [between us]”.

But speaking on Sunday, Horst Seehofer, the interior minister, said the government needed to “disrupt the chains of infection”. He added: “To do that, we have to limit not only large events and social contact, but also the movement of people.”


Read more: https://www.ft.com/content/2f8967a2-66d6-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

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Germany has reported 5,813 COVID-19 cases, and 11 deaths, one of the lowest mortality rates in Europe.

[Evolve Dammit]

1. You have to do it. Otherwise the systems will collapse.

[Pachamama]

2. I can't go back to my home in Europe now - but that is ok.

I split my time between here and Europe and was scheduled to fly back in 11 days. I already had been figuring I would be postponing because of the pandemic - now I have no choice. It was a choice between being where my children are or back in Europe. I ask myself every day where if I got sick I would have better care. And I have to sadly say, Germany has 3.5 times the amount of hospital beds and testing within hours. But I was going to do it voluntarily- now there is no option.

I am hunkering down for next month plus. Trying to not go out other than to walk the dog. I have plenty of food and supplies. And I pray my family and neighbors and friends all do the same and we all remain healthy.

Denmark, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, SwedeSpain, Austria and Germany are all learning from Italy. Switzerland, France and other EU countries will follow soon. All closing their borders to control the spread.

I believe we need to do the same including domestic travel NOW.

I am praying CA, WA, OR, NY & FL announce closing state lines for at least the next two weeks. We need to control the spread in and out.

[a la izquierda]

8. Take care.

I should be in England, the Netherlands and Germany job hunting. It can wait until June.

[RobinA]

3. I Din't Understand

what this is supposed to accomplish. The bug is already in the country.

[denem]

4. Sick people moving across to use Germany's health system,

where only 11 people have died.

[Steelrolled]

5. There was a German medical expert

who said this about the American travel bans. He speculated it was largely political. That probably applies in Germany's case as well.

[Igel]

6. It's only political when it's American travel bans.

Look at it this way.

There are different levels of lock-down. You don't leave your house. You don't leave your block. You don't leave your neighborhood. You don't leave your berg or part of town. You don't leave your city. You don't leave your state.

Why should a government say that you can't leave your city or state but you can freely travel between countries? Or assemble in large groups? (Sorry, isn't freedom of assembly a constitutional right?) I could claim that it's all political, but I know better. I *can* be, but isn't. Or isn't primarily.

Closed borders is just another level of lockdown. It's no more political than any other level. It impedes the flow of people. And since people are the carriers for the virus, it impedes the flow of the virus. You can view it as xenophobia. You can view it as impeding viral spread. Examine the motives.

If containment is the only goal then once the virus is inside the country lockdown at various levels becomes pointless. Containment has not been a viable goal since early February. If there are differential rates across borders, like between cities or communities, then stop the flow of people. You may still have an exponential curve, but the thing about such curves is how it starts has a big effect. Letting people in from higher-prevalence areas gooses the curve and makes it increase faster. It expands the area, and keeps negative feedback from kicking in as quickly.

[Steelrolled]

7. "You can view it as xenophobia. You can view it as impeding viral spread"

You can also view it as political leaders hedging their bets. There is little downside to taking measures like closing borders. But a lot of risk in saying "it isn't necessary" if things don't go well. Science no longer applies.

Regarding your points, one of the stated reasons for Germany to close borders was to curb "panic-buying by foreigners" in border regions. Apparently that is a real threat to Germany, but I have no idea.