That's strange because the media narrative here in the U.S. is that Europe is handling the virus so much better than us. Meanwhile, that article states that Europe currently has the highest positivity rate than any single region in the world and has almost 100K positive cases just on 10/08 alone. Europe is 1/10th of the world's population but they are currently 1/3 of all new Covid positive cases in the world. Even in the U.S., we have never had a single day positive number that high during the entirety of the pandemic. Also, Europe has a much higher mortality rate from Covid than the U.S., although Europe has had half the number of positive cases the U.S. has had (3.88 million), they have roughly the same number of Covid deaths we do (195,000), over 5% Covid mortality rate in Europe compared to ours which is half that. So you are more likely to die from Covid contracted while in Europe than Covid contracted while in the U.S.. I wonder what went wrong over there?
Well, I will try and keep it brief, but it is a 'long answer'. Two things are very important to remember
- 'Europe' is a group of countries, all have very different health care systems, and all have reacted differently to the virus. If you look at Spain vs Germany the results of deaths/million are very, very different
- the news media, especially the American news media, has an agenda, and doesn't present facts or encourage critical thinking. Their role is to sell a product, not to provide factual information
So, having said that, over the summer the general trend in most of 'Europe' was that the death rate uncoupled from the case rate. That meant that even as cases rose, deaths remained flat. Even now, with the case rate increasing in Germany, the death rate is still about 12 per 85 million on a daily average in the last week (was much lower all summer) with an average death age above the normal mortality age.
In much of 'Europe', the restrictions were lifted and life was pretty normal from May onwards, probably much more so than in the US, and certainly more so than in Canada, Australia, etc. But some countries, like Ireland, remained much more restrictive.
Even in the DACH countries, the reaction varied. Austria was the first 'official' area of spread, and has the youngest world leader ever, but over the summer there were very low cases and almost no deaths. Almost everything was open, gatherings of thousands were permitted, hotels had conventions, no masks were required except in banks and grocery stores, etc. Germany was a bit more restriction, Liechtenstein was even less restrictive. Cases did not rise significantly, and deaths remained flat.
Testing in many countries was abundant and fast. We went twice in the last few weeks to public testing centres for returned travellers, which are at every airport, major train stations, and border crossings. Total time to be tested from arrival to departure was about 7 minutes, cost was zero even for non-citizens/residents, and results came in under 12 hours. (We had no symptoms, this is just a free service open to returning travellers with no symptoms, whilst those who need a test for abroad can be tested for a fee)
Testing and contact tracing were key in keeping cases lowered, even with borders opened to the EU and to other countries such as Canada, etc.
Now cases are rising, mostly due to group gatherings in party athmosphere. Yet so far the death rate has not risen, even after a few weeks of rising cases. Nor is the healthcare system taxed (again, this varies by country in 'Europe') We had a great holiday in Italy, by the way, which was pretty open. Mask wearing is more prominent in the south, with the Nordic countries rarely wearing masks (I've been all over western/central/southern Europe this year, throughout the pandemic)
To give you a few facts:
3,3 percent of all ICU beds are full of COVID patients in Berlin. Germany has a system of green/yellow/red lights when cases per million increase. Then they implement local restrictions, for a 2 week period, which are pretty light. (No alcohol sales after a certain hour, Munich required masks in the pedestrian zone for 2 weeks, etc)
Deaths in Berlin? 4 in October, 2 in September, 3 in August, 9 in July, 16 in June, 49 in May, 134 in April, and 15 in March. Not the shocking figures the English language media reports. (Surging, soaring, etc)
https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/art...n-Die-Hauptstadt-vor-dem-Kontrollverlust.html
The German RKI does a daily report (even weekends) in German and in English, with facts. Here is their recent statement on the current conditions:
Since calendar week 30, the proportion of deaths among COVID-19 cases has been consistently below 1% and is thus markedly lower than among cases in the spring, particularly in April. It is unlikely that the virus has changed to become less pathogenic. Rather, the low proportion of deaths can be explained as follows: On the one hand, recent infections have occurred mainly among young people, who rarely experience a severe course of disease. On the other hand there is also broader testing, which means more milder cases are identified.
So, long post, apologies, but my main takeaway is to avoid especially the US television news, apply critical thinking, look at the death rate vs the case rate, consider how restrictions are implemented, and don't think of 'Europe' as one entity.
I hope that helps, if you managed to get through to the end!