It's right to take precautions; the coronavirus is not to be trifled with. Even without a vaccine, there's no need to panic. But we do so anyway, says DW's Jens Thurau after covering the outbreak.
The taxi driver who drives me from our editorial office to the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin has her own view on the number one topic in Germany. She asks: "What happens if the newspapers write: 'Don't be afraid of the pink elephant! Then people will say: 'Oh God, we have pink elephants here?'"
That is an accurate description of what Germany is currently experiencing with the new virus from China. Business trips are being canceled, including domestic ones. Bottles of disinfectant are suddenly mounted on office walls.
People want to be tested even if they show no or only minor symptoms. Trade fairs are being canceled, party conferences are on the brink. And yet every morning the train is tortuously full as usual. And why wouldn't it be? Should we really follow the advice of scientists and go into closed quarantine?
No we don't. Although, the scientists are also right, strictly speaking: If everyone would sit still where they are for two weeks the virus would hardly stand a chance. But unlike in Italy, for example, the epidemic in Germany is, as the experts tell us, still in the "containment" phase. In other words, infected persons are isolated and treated, contact persons are tracked down. A kindergarten or a school might be closed down, but not the whole country.
So do we have to do our panic-buying now, as some have already done here and there? When a whole society is gripped by fear, all good manners fall by the wayside: Unfortunately, one must say, especially German society. So people are hoarding protective face masks, even though, the experts tell us, they are of no use, but are urgently needed in hospitals and doctors' surgeries. Moreover, is obviously criminal to steal masks and sell them at a marked-up price on the internet. But it can only happen because people easily fall into hysteria and create the illegal market in the first place.
At press conferences with Health Minister Jens Spahn or the experts from the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's main public health authority, some journalists' questions actually only prove how stupid people can be. Why is there still no vaccine, one asked, with accusatory undertone? Virologist Christian Drosten, now known throughout Germany and a regular guest on television, who is feverishly researching a corona vaccine with his international colleagues, is forced to make an effort to control himself with difficulty and repeat the same lines: The virus is new, many things are still unknown, we are working on it, but there is no faster way. His expression shows that he thinks the press conference is wasting his time.
So we grope our way through the epidemic. The ITB international tourism fair in Berlin is canceled, the Hannover industrial trade fair postponed. But the Bundesliga is still playing in full stadiums. The president of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, is not really getting through with his message that most new infections are now happening within Germany, so people are hardly bringing the virus from abroad anymore. This is good news because it means that there are probably fewer contact people to find and the experts can concentrate on fighting the virus at home.
A collective fear
In essence, then, we are dealing with a collective fear event. In our prosperous, technically-controlled and automated world, we are no longer used to things being unpredictable. And so therefore we like to assume the worst.
What we have been familiar with for a long time are the flu waves during the cold season. Just for comparison, as of Friday, March 5: Since the beginning of the year, over 100,000 people in Germany have fallen ill with flu and around 200 have also died of it. Among them are many old, already sick and weakened people. But this number does not make the headlines.
It is like flying: Experts and statisticians never tire of pointing out that the airplane is the safest of all means of transportation. The risk of dying in road traffic is much higher. But the images of horrible plane crashes just keep on etching themselves onto our brains. The many thousands of successful take-offs and landings, every day, just happen, and aren't worth a headline.
'Chill out, Germany!'
On the whole, my impression is that doctors, nurses and scientists in Germany are still managing the coronavirus well. Certainly, the health system has weaknesses, the health authorities in the municipalities are overstretched and short of staff. And globalization has its insane sides, which has become apparent by how many drugs are produced in China that we are now short of.
When I get really upset about little things at home, my kids like to tell me: "Chill out, Dad!" Which really annoys me. But now I can say it too: "Chill out, Germany!" Let's take the virus seriously, listen to the experts, and keep our nerve. Don't forget to wash your hands, refrain from shaking hands in greeting, and instead smile nicely. And let's not assume the worst.
The Bayreuth Festival canceled
Concerts, exhibitions and festivals worldwide have been called off due to the corona crisis. Now the Bayreuth Festival 2020 has been canceled as well.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Karmann
All quiet on the Wagnerian front
An older audience packed in close quarters in a sweltering theater: for virus transmission, a horrific scenario. The Bayreuth Festival 2020 has been called off, for the first time in its 144-year history due to an epidemic. Rehearsals for the new production of the opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung" were to begin on April 1 - but now, the "Ring" can only premiere in 2022 at the earliest.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Karmann
Berlin's major events
A day after Berlin announced that performances in major state-owned venues were to be canceled until April 19, city authorities have banned all events with more than 1,000 participants as well. "The coronavirus continues to spread. In such a phase, public life must be restricted," Berlin's local Health Minister Dilek Kalayci said.
Image: picture-alliance/imageBROKER/P. Seyfferth
Madonna and other concerts
Many major concerts have been canceled, including Madonna's last two dates of her "Madame X" tour in Paris. France has banned on Sunday public gatherings of more than 1,000 people. The Paris Opera has also canceled its performances.
Image: Getty Images/M. Campanella
St. Patrick's Day in Ireland
All Irish St. Patrick's Day parades, including Dublin's main celebration that draws around
500,000 revelers from all over the world each year, are canceled because of fears over the spread of COVID-19, state broadcaster RTE reported on Monday. Ireland's famous March 17 parades were also previously canceled in 2001 during an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/P. Morrison
Vatican museums
With quarantine measures in place in northern Italy, soccer matches occurring without spectators, and Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte's order to close museums, theaters and cinemas, it should come as no surprise that the Vatican has closed the doors to its museums, including the Sistine Chapel (above), until probably April 3. In the Vatican itself, five people are currently in quarantine.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Stache
South by Southwest (SXSW)
This annual music, film and tech festival held in Austin, Texas, usually attracts more than 400,000 visitors. But less than a week before its March 12, 2020 start date, organizers decided to cancel in a bid to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus. There's a silver lining though: it may only be postponed and not canceled altogether.
The International Film Academy has announced that it would be postponing its awards ceremony, also known as Bollywood's Oscars, due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak. According to official numbers, India has been until now relatively unscathed by the epidemic. Actor Shah Rukh Khan (photo) was one the stars expected at the event planned for March 27; a new date has not been decided yet.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/S. Jaiswal
'No Time to Die'
James Bond perhaps has a little more time on his hands than the title of the upcoming film in the franchise suggests: "No Time to Die" producers have decided to push back the release of the movie to November. Daniel Craig's last outing as 007 was initially planned for April. It's the first Hollywood blockbuster to shift its release schedule in reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.
Image: Imago Images/Zuma Press/MGM
Venice Architecture Biennale
The start of the world's most prestigious architecture biennale has also been delayed. Instead of opening in May, it will run from August 29 to November 29 — three months later than planned. The theme of the event takes on a new meaning amid current developments: "How do we live together?"
Image: picture-alliance/S. Lubenow
London Book Fair
Due to take place March 10-12, the book fair was canceled "with reluctance," said organizers, after several major publishers such as HarperCollins and Penguin Random House pulled out of the event to avoid exposing their staff to the virus. The London Book Fair usually draws more than 25,000 authors and book industry insiders.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/C. De Souza
Musikmesse Frankfurt
Europe's biggest trade fair for the music industry also announced that it was postponing the event, which was set to celebrate its 40th anniversary on April 2-4. While it was deemed to be "the only responsible and right decision to take," the cancellation is bound to affect many small businesses in the music industry, said Christian Höppner, secretary general of the German Music Council.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Sommer
Leipzig Book Fair
Change of plans for book fans: The Leipzig Book Fair, scheduled to be held March 12-15, was canceled due to the spread of the new coronavirus, a spokesperson for the fair announced on March 3. The second-largest book fair in Germany expected to draw 2,500 exhibitors from 51 countries.
Image: Stiftung Buchkunst/Carolin Blöink
ITB Travel Trade Show Berlin
Preparations for the world's largest travel fair were already in full swing when the organizers canceled it at the last minute. Due to the ongoing virus threat, participants to the Berlin fair had to prove they had not been to one of the defined risk areas. With 170,000 visitors from all over the world, this proved to be an impossible task and the fair couldn't open on March 4 as planned.
Image: Imago/V. Hohlfeld
Milan Design Week
Each April, thousands of design professionals, artists and companies visit Milan to check out the latest in furniture and interior design. This year, however, organizers have announced it will be moved to June due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Milan is the capital of the Lombardy region, which has seen the lion's share of Italian coronivirus cases. Some airlines have even suspended their flights.
Image: Phillip K. Smith
La Scala opera house
There is perhaps no venue more symbolic of Italy's rich operatic tradition than the La Scala opera house in Milan. Now, its seats will remain empty until March 8. Italy's Prime Minister called for the suspension of cultural events and the venue is sticking to the rules. At the time of writing, Italy has more cases of the new coronavirus than any country outside of Asia.
Image: AP
K-pop concerts
The reigning K-pop boy band BTS does big business with each concert, but in the wake of the virus in South Korea, the group canceled four April dates at the Seoul Olympic Stadium, which seats 69,950 people. "It's impossible to predict the scale of the outbreak," said the group's management. On Tuesday, cases in South Korea reached 5,100 with the majority of infections in the city of Daegu.
Image: Facebook/BTS Official
'Mission Impossible'
No, we aren't describing the task of containing the new coronavirus, but rather the new movie starring Tom Cruise which was supposed to have a three-week shoot in Venice. The film has been postponed, movie studio Paramount Pictures said Monday. Venice's cultural events have been hard hit by the outbreak. The final two days of lagoon city's annual Carnival festival were also canceled.
On February 28, the Swiss government imposed a ban on events of more than 1,000 people until March 15, making it the first European country to do so as a preemptive measure to fight against the spread of the illness. As a result, many concerts and events were called off, including concerts by Carlos Santana (pictured) and Alice Cooper at the 15,000-person Hellenstadion in Zürich.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The Hamburg Ballet
The Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier canceled guest performances in Macau and Singapore due to the coronavirus outbreak. On the program were "The Lady of the Camellias," which tells the story of a famous Parisian courtesan and "Nijinsky." Whether the tour will take place at another point in time is still in the air. In spring 2021 the Hamburg Ballet plans to tour in Japan.
