[set fair (OP)]

When daily cases are at 8,000 the Brits say we must open everything up, the Germans say - time to start closing things.

Is this some kind of joke?

[evan_au]

Is this some kind of joke?

It sounds like different government policies.
- And those policies are deadly serious - they could result in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

One sounds driven by the desire to minimise total deaths, given that it will take a few months before everyone is fully vaccinated.

The other sounds like it is driven primarily by how much business will be impacted in the next two weeks, forgetting that every week you open up is a month or more you must shut down.
- And maybe an over-optimistic view that since a fraction of the population has been partially immunised, herd immunity will magically materialise.
- Even though children are not targeted in the priority vaccine rollout, but must be fully vaccinated if herd immunity is to be achieved.

[Bored chemist]

"What's the difference between the German and British?"

Germany is not run by someone who thought that a pandemic was a good time to go round a hospital shaking hands with patients.

[alancalverd]

It's the difference between excessive caution and excessive optimism.

[Petrochemicals]

Vaccination rate?

[charles1948]

Perhaps we should consider the traditional forms of greeting.

When two German persons greet each, don't they just click their heels at each other, in a socially- distanced manner, involving no direct physical contact. Which is eminently suited to our present-day Covid-19 environment.

Whereas, when two British persons greet each other, they come close together, then thrust out and grasp each other's hands, in a "handshake".

This produces physical contact between the hands, providing an easy medium for CV-19 virus-transmission.

 So shouldn't the British "handshake" be banned in the future, and replaced by a polite, virus-neutral, "heel-click"?

[evan_au]

One of Donald Trump's psychological warfare tricks was to grasp the person's hand in a handshake, and then pull them in very close, where he could look down on them (he is fairly tall)...
- People who have a larger personal space will feel intimidated by this close proximity.
- People who are shorter will be intimidated by his greater height
- and the watching cameras will show this, too

Unfortunately, this is about the best way to spread virus around!

[charles1948]

Thanks Evan.  I'd never noticed that the ex-President was particularly tall, and likely to intimate by his towering presence.  Though his weird hairstyle, might certainly make people inclined to back away.

Also, wasn't he reputed to have abnormally small hands.  Again, I never noticed these in the visual images, but I suppose such a hand, when clasped, might induce feelings of unease, and a feeling that this was no ordinary man.

Which of course he wasn't.  Though whether that was for good or bad, only time will tell.

Perhaps when the nuclear war with China starts in October 2022,  he may receive credit from historians for his exceptional prescience.

[alancalverd]

If you ever have to shake hands with Donald Trump, count your fingers and wash with surgical soap.

The heel-click is something of a Hollywood stereotype. European convention generally is a handshake and nod of the head, plus stating your name - one of the few sensible things our neighbors do.

[snahtajain]

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[Colin2B]

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I hope your German is better than your English. But I wouldn’t bank on it!

[evan_au]

This March-2021 debate about suppression vs "let it rip" took a different turn with Omicron...
- Omicron was far more infectious than previous strains: It was so infectious that suppression was almost impossible
- Omicron was far less lethal than previous strains (infecting mainly the upper airways, compared to earlier variants that affected the lower airways): This made it feasible to let it rip in the general population, while locking down hospitals and aged care facilities to stop spread amongst the most vulnerable.

But Germany has commissioned an Omicron-specific vaccine; I suspect that the Omicron wave will be pretty much past by the time they come to test it in clinical trials...