COVID-19, Low death rate explanation!

Thousands of people are dying everyday due to the coronavirus. World is in a total lockdown and many states are going through a very difficult situation. The USA has lately beaten China and Italy topping the list as the state with the highest number of confirmed cases. The situation in Europe is even worse led by Italy with 86500 infected and 9134 deaths as of 28.03.2020 , the highest death rate in the world. Sapin is also in a difficult situation holding the fourth place, followed by Germany which occupies the 5th place. Unlike others, the low death rate in Germany has caught the attention of many, raising the question “Why ?”. Why does Germany have the smallest number of victims ?

Efficient Healthsystem

Germany's population is around 80 million inhabitants, and according to the ZDF Heute in hospitals are around 499.000 beds for sick people where 28.000 of them are for intensive treatment. Compared to others Germany has a bigger capacity to treat the infected people. Italy for example has a population of 60 million and in total 160,000 beds where only 5000 are for intensive treatment. On average in Germany there is 1 bed for 160 people but in Italy 1 bed for 375 people, in terms of total population.There is not only a high capacity of beds and equipment but also the medical staff that comes as a result of the high budget spent every year in the medical field. Now Germany is working to double the number of intensive treatment beds to easily handle the created situation.

The Powerful healthsystem is thought to be the main reason why Germany is better managing the pandemic.

Average age of infected

There is also a difference in the average age of infected people between Germany and other states. In Germany the average age is 45 years old while in Italy is 65 years old and in Spain 60. The Infected people are younger in Germany, making them less likely to die from the virus. Based on Worldometer the death rate from 0 to 39 years old is only 0,2% and from 40 to 49 only 0.4%. COVID-19 is more likely to be fatal for old people or people with other diseases such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

Testing

In Germany, there exists a really good testing strategy. Many people are being tested so there can be more mild cases out of the total number of infected persons. The high number of tests being carried out helps not only to quickly find the virus carriers but also to quickly isolate them.

Responsibility

The German government took measures against the virus later than other countries such as Italy, Spain, or Greece. However Germans started staying or working from home, keeping distance, wearing masks etc much earlier. The german culture does not include a lot of contact as kissing or hugging, unlike other countries like Italy and Spain. In everyday life they are not people who kiss or hug others very much, they mostly shake hands and respect each other's privacy. Which can also be a reason why the virus is slowlier spread in Germany.

Old and young people contacts

As mentioned above the average age of infected people in Germany is 45 years old, much younger than other countries. How is it possible that old people are not infected from these young people ? In Germany, old people and young people are not likely to live together. Young adults prefer following their way, like studying in other cities or countries, living with their friends and being independent. The contact young Germans have with Older once is low which in this case have saved them.

Anyway, Germany is only at the beginning of this pandemic and numbers may have a scary increase in the following week, even though I do not think that Germany will reach higher numbers than the USA, Italy or Spain.

I hope you have liked my work and I will recommend you to take a look at “Quarantine life” ( my previous article) to find some good ideas on how to spend the time in isolation.

Stay home, be safe and read on Vocal.media.

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