Germany: Low Coronavirus Death Rate, Thanks To Testing, Culture, Luck, Healthcare System
- 'Germany has a remarkably low coronavirus death rate — thanks largely to mass testing, but also culture, luck, and an impressive healthcare system,' by Bill Bostock, Business Insider, March 28, 2020.
Germany's death rate from the coronavirus is substantially lower than that seen in Italy, Spain, and the UK. 53,340 Germans had tested positive for the coronavirus as of March 28, with 397 deaths. That gives a death rate of 0.74%. Spain's rate is 7.6% and Italy's is 10.2%.
This is because Germany is testing as many as 120,000 people a week, identifying many milder cases that don't end in death. Germany is also in an early stage of its outbreak, has excellent intensive care facilities, a young average age of infection, and a severe lockdown in place.
The coronavirus is ravaging large parts of Europe, with Italy and Spain now the worst-hit countries in the world. But to the north, Germany appears to be bucking the trend.
53,340 Germans had tested positive for the coronavirus as of midday Berlin time on March 28, with 397 deaths, according to the German newspaper Die Zeit. That means Germany has a death rate of 0.74%.
(Die Zeit's count pulls local data faster than the German central government, and is seen as a more accurate picture).
That rate is far below that of Spain, which at 7.82%, China at 4.02%, and Italy, which is at 10.56%.
It suggests that Germany is doing something right that the others aren't. Here's why Germany seems to be on top of its coronavirus outbreak, and why its able to do things like take in coronavirus patients from its struggling neighbors.
Test, test, test
The most important factor contributing to the low death rate is that Germany appears to be that it is testing far more people than any other European country. Scientists agree that a large number - probably a big majority - of all coronavirus cases never make it into the official figures because they are not severe enough for hospital treatment.
The more widely a country tests, the more of these milder cases it will find. Since the most severe cases are almost always tested, the number of coronavirus deaths will likely stay the same.
The net effect is that more testing leads to a lower-looking death rate.
Christian Drosten, director of the institute of virology at Berlin's Charité hospital estimates that Germany is testing 120,000 people a week. The German doctors' association says at least 200,000 coronavirus tests were carried out in recent weeks, The Independent reported. "I believe that we are just testing much more than in other countries, and we are detecting our outbreak early," Drosten told NPR.
"We have a culture here in Germany that is actually not supporting a centralized diagnostic system," Drosten said. "So Germany does not have a public health laboratory that would restrict other labs from doing the tests. So we had an open market from the beginning."
As of March 28, the UK had tested 113,777 people. Spain and Italy are also not testing anywhere near as much...
- Read More, http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/germany-has-a-remarkably-low-coronavirus-death-rate-%e2%80%94-thanks-largely-to-mass-testing-but-also-culture-luck-and-an-impressive-healthcare-system/ar-BB11PpiJ?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15
- Also: DW, 'Germany Won't Lift Coronavirus Restrictions Before April 20: Chancellory'
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-wont-lift-coronavirus-restrictions-before-april-20-chancellory/a-52947201
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