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Living in a country led by a Chemistry PhD who lets Dr. Drosten and his colleagues do most of the talking about Covid-19, and has long had some pretty sturdy ex

Living in a country led by a Chemistry PhD who lets Dr. Drosten and his colleagues do most of the talking about Covid-19, and has long had some pretty sturdy expectant mother protections in place has been about as good a pandemic experience as I can imagine having as a relatively old pregnant woman. My company medical office called my boss to order me to work from home two days after I decided I'd prefer to - unnecessary, because my boss agreed to let me as soon as I started worrying about it. The next week, we were all ordered to work from home. I'm flabbergasted every time I see a news story from the US about a pregnant woman worried about having to keep working in a public-contact job with inadequate protection. Here right now, it's completely out of the question; if her employer can't find her a role that doesn't require public contact, she's on medical leave at most of her pay. This is usually the case for preschool workers and some medical professionals, as well as women in jobs that involve exposure to harmful chemicals or biologic agents.

zlaa 7y ago
The social protections you describe are not due to Merkel (the Chemistry PhD), but were fought for and won in the 1950s-1980s. SPD Schroeder started to destroy all protections, and CDU Merkel continued that course. Germany is a kleptocracy for privileged groups who don't work and have their snouts in the trough, and who import more minimum wage labor to finance and maintain their live style.
- acqq 7y ago
  The first part of the message is completely valid observation, and historically, there's even longer European tradition of the development of the wide-ranging "protections" of the population that is surely attempted to be destroyed by some forces (present practically in almost all the political parties) in the most recent times. A crisis like this proves that these kinds of destruction are actually making the society as a whole significantly more fragile or brittle.
- MandieD 7y ago
  Maybe after seeing how relatively well they’ve come through this compared to my folks back home (I’m American), my neighbors will fight harder to keep the things that take some of the sharper edges off life in Germany.

zlaa 7y ago

The social protections you describe are not due to Merkel (the Chemistry PhD), but were fought for and won in the 1950s-1980s. SPD Schroeder started to destroy all protections, and CDU Merkel continued that course. Germany is a kleptocracy for privileged groups who don't work and have their snouts in the trough, and who import more minimum wage labor to finance and maintain their live style.

acqq 7y ago
The first part of the message is completely valid observation, and historically, there's even longer European tradition of the development of the wide-ranging "protections" of the population that is surely attempted to be destroyed by some forces (present practically in almost all the political parties) in the most recent times. A crisis like this proves that these kinds of destruction are actually making the society as a whole significantly more fragile or brittle.
MandieD 7y ago
Maybe after seeing how relatively well they’ve come through this compared to my folks back home (I’m American), my neighbors will fight harder to keep the things that take some of the sharper edges off life in Germany.