Germany eyes accelerated return to normality after coronavirus lockdown

Germany is eyeing an almost complete return to normality in May, with plans to send all pupils back to school and restart top-flight Bundesliga football, according to a draft agreement seen by AFP.

"Even after initial steps to open up were introduced from April 20, the number of new infections remained low," the document said. It added that "no new wave of infection" had so far been detected, justifying the series of bolder reopening steps.

Schools had already been allowed to open, but only to older children so far. Likewise, only shops up to a certain size were allowed to do business.

But in the broader easing of stay-at-home measures, Angela Merkel's government will now throw all school gates and shops open, provided that hygiene measures, including maintaining social distance, are kept up.

The Bundesliga will become the first of Europe's top five leagues to restart – something that Health Minister, Jens Spahn, said could make the competition an "export hit".

Only the cultural sector would have to wait, with large events remaining cancelled until the end of August. Borders also remain closed.

The agreement came just hours before Mrs Merkel is due to confer with Germany's 16 state premiers to take stock of the development of infections since Europe's biggest economy first took steps to lift some restrictions.

With 164,807 confirmed infected cases of coronavirus and 6,996 deaths, Germany has so far been able to prevent the scenes of dire hospital overcrowding seen elsewhere in Europe.

However, Mrs Merkel has repeatedly urged caution, warning that it would be a "crying shame" to throw away early successes in containing the virus.

The restrictions, along with greater testing capacities, have seen Germany keep its death rate far lower than those of its European neighbours.

Experts have urged restraint, with the head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control warning of possible second or third waves of the virus hitting the country. As elsewhere, Mrs Merkel's government is walking a tightrope between preventing new deadly outbreaks and containing the already devastating economic impact of the lockdown measures.

With the economy now in deep recession and the ranks of jobless swelling, complaints are growing against Mrs Merkel's conservative approach, which won her a rise in support in the early days of the pandemic.

In recent days, many state premiers have ignored her pleas for caution on easing coronavirus restrictions. On the eve of her discussions with regional leaders, Germany's biggest state, Bavaria, pre-empted federal measures by announcing that its restaurants would open from May 18 and hotels and guest houses from May 30.

State premier Markus Soeder said "the time has come for a cautious reopening", pointing to the "success" in containing the spread of the virus.

Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saarland and Saxony-Anhalt have also announced their own plans for everything from restaurants to care homes.

The North Rhine-Westphalia state premier, Armin Laschet, who has criticised Mrs Merkel's firmer stance on restrictions, told public broadcaster ARD late last month that the negative effects of the lockdown must be "weighed up".

He attacked what he said were the pessimistic predictions of some medical experts, pointing out that "40 percent of intensive care beds are empty" in his state.

Demonstrations against the lockdown were held in several German cities last weekend, and a new political movement calling itself Widerstand 2020 (Resistance 2020) claims on its website to have more than 100,000 members.

The far-right AfD, Germany's largest opposition party by number of MPs, has also attacked the lockdown measures.

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Sweden escapes economic slump by refusing to impose lockdown

Sweden has reaped the benefits of keeping its economy out of lockdown after escaping the dramatic growth slumps suffered by European rivals.

The Scandinavian country has taken a far more relaxed approach to tackling the coronavirus than much of the West, keeping most schools, restaurants and businesses open and relying on a voluntary approach to social distancing.

Official figures show the country's economy shrank by just 0.3pc in the first three months of 2020, a far smaller decline than most forecasters and its central bank expected. The Riksbank had pencilled in a drop of between 0.8pc and 1.8pc.

The smaller scale of the fall contrasts with record slumps seen elsewhere across the Eurozone over the quarter as governments imposed much more stringent measures. France's economy tumbled 5.8pc, Italy's 4.7pc and Spain's by 5.2pc, while the Eurozone’s output overall sank by 3.8pc - the worst decline in its history. The figures are likely to be far worse in the second quarter as lockdowns grind on....

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What States Should Do Instead of Demanding More Taxpayer Bailouts

Activists and policymakers on the left are trying again to grab Americans’ tax dollars to bail out state and local governments from their own poor budget choices, this time using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse.

Congress provided tens of billions of dollars in coronavirus relief to states as part of the CARES Act, of course. But those who view the federal government as a money machine for their causes appear determined to secure unfettered funds for state and local officials to spend.

Last month, liberal lawmakers were unsuccessful in their attempt to include those bailouts in congressional legislation creating the Paycheck Protection Program, designed to provide coronavirus relief to owners of small businesses and their employees.

“Not only would such a bailout set the stage for future mismanagement,” Heritage Foundation President Kay C. James argued at the time, “it is not the federal government’s role to use taxpayer dollars to finance states’ ordinary operations or encourage longer shutdown measures than necessary.”

The Daily Signal, Heritage’s multimedia news organization, asked state-based, free-market think tanks to weigh in on what’s happening in their states and the need to resist the allure of bumming billions more from Uncle Sam, as if hard-pressed taxpayers wouldn’t get stuck with the bill.

First, some background and context. Policy analysts at Heritage and other conservative organizations argue that policymakers should resist calls for U.S. taxpayers to bail out state and local governments.

Heritage’s own National Coronavirus Recovery Commission has recommended that Congress provide targeted and temporary economic relief for taxpayers, families, and businesses of all sizes.

Rachel Greszler and Adam Michel, two of the leading conservative think tank’s experts on related issues, make the case against using federal taxpayer dollars to cover states’ self-imposed fiscal woes, arguing that it would result in more such recklessness.

“COVID-19 is a public health crisis, not a pretext for states to request funding for things that are their own responsibility,” Greszler writes.

Michel criticizes the National Governors Association’s recent request for Congress to fork over $500 billion with no restrictions on using that money.

“Congress is making the same mistakes with some of the promised federal aid as lawmakers made with past federal bailouts,” Michel writes, adding:

Doubling down on this flawed strategy by sending more money, especially unrestricted money, to state governments would grow states’ budgets, increase future funding shortfalls, further undermine local decision-making, and set a dangerous precedent that could lead to further federal bailouts of the most irresponsible states. Instead, Congress should provide more flexibility to states by lifting unfunded mandates.

State-based public policy organizations—or think tanks—are making similar arguments to their states’ elected officials and other policymakers as they move to revive their coronavirus-battered economies.

Here’s how some of them responded to The Daily Signal’s invitation to assess what’s happening on their ground.

Florida: The James Madison Institute

Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, Florida addressed several challenges to the health care system that ensured we were not only better prepared for COVID-19, but future health stresses.

These steps included expanding telehealth; eliminating “certificate of need” laws governing establishment or expansion of health care facilities; allowing highly qualified nurses to practice at the top of their training; and allowing pharmacists to test and treat for flu, strep, and other routine conditions.

In addition, Florida passed comprehensive occupational licensing reform to better position the state for economic recovery and more quickly get Floridians back to work.

Our reserves are hefty, but there will be a limit to the pain. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is on board and probably all our state-level leadership in that money from any COVID-related relief legislation should not be used to fix problems that existed before the pandemic (i.e., pensions or awful budgeting practices).

However, if there is a package in Congress that deals solely with relief of revenues lost from mandated government shutdowns that affected the state budget, that will be a tough one for elected leaders to say “no” to based solely on principle.—Bob McClure, president and CEO, The James Madison Institute

Louisiana: Pelican Institute for Public Policy

Louisiana is no stranger to disasters. After Hurricane Katrina, a large influx of federal funds caused state spending to skyrocket, but unfortunately, Louisiana didn’t work to reprioritize state spending. As in other states, we don’t foresee a situation where federal dollars would be rejected in Louisiana.

Now, as new federal dollars start to pour in, Louisiana is considering passing much-needed limits on state expenditures to ensure it prioritizes funding. This will prevent the new federal influx from permanently increasing state spending and ensure that Louisiana lives within its means.—Daniel Erspamer, CEO, Pelican Institute for Public Policy

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The silent COVID-19 death toll: Far more Australians will kill themselves because of coronavirus lockdown than those who die of the virus, experts say

There are fears suicide rates could rise by 50 per cent across Australia because of the impacts of coronavirus restrictions.

New research predicts an extra 1,500 suicide deaths across the country over the next five years as a result of the economic fallout of the coronavirus.

The modelling from the Sydney University's Brain and Mind Centre found the rate of deaths linked to suicide would be more than four times the number of deaths directly caused by coronavirus, The Australian. 

Early modelling forecasts a 25 per cent jump in suicides, based on an unemployment rate of 10 per cent. But if job losses cause unemployment to reach 15 per cent, the rate of suicide could climb by 50 per cent. Around 3,000 deaths are caused by suicide each year across Australia. 

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has been briefed on the research and will present the modelling to the national cabinet next week.

The federal government announced a $74million boost for mental health support services on March 29. At the time suicide support services such as Lifeline were already reporting a 20 per cent increase in normal call volumes. 

The new research has prompted leading health officials to call for a more cohesive approach to address concerns around a mental health crisis linked directly to the pandemic.

Researchers say young people will suffer the most, as well as people in regional communities, which have already endured economic downturn linked to the bushfires, the drought and floods.

The modelling reveals the annual rate of suicide could rise from 3,000 to 4,500 - and youth suicides would represent almost half of those figures.

Former mental health commissioner and the head of the Brain and Mind Centre, Ian Hickie, said Australia is yet to see the worst impacts of a national economic downturn.

'What happens in recessions, and we know this from the 2009 GFC, the Asian financial crisis and the Great Depression, is that suicide rates go up dramatically in recession… and they hurt the young the most… we can watch it and see it happening …or we can get ahead of the curve,' Professor Hickie said.

'The impacts of unemployment will be greatest among the young, those who live in rural and regional Australia, and those areas hardest-hit by job losses will not recover quickly.

'As restrictions on physical distancing and isolation are eased, Australia's mental health system, already poorly designed and seriousl­y under-resourced, must urgently be equipped with the capacit­y to respond to the expected influx in demand for services,' he said.

The Australian Medical Association is backing the calls for urgent action to deal with concerns mental health issues caused by COVID-19 could spark more deaths in Australia than the virus itself.

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

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