Even if Berlin made some mistakes or did a few strange things during those pandemic years, I don't mind. It happens. It is what it is. The entire world was scrambling to do what they thought was right, while attempting to mitigate death & danger for everyone, and figure out practical solutions on the fly, including cloth masks or lockdowns or whatever. This is normal. No one is perfect. But they tried anyway - hopefully learning some good lessons.
What I am extremely tired of now is hearing all of the petty, absurd complaints about "But I had to wear a mask!" "Lockdown was so lonely!" "What the government did was tyranny!" Or whatever crap is coming out from certain people nowadays. Of course it was a lonely, sad time for almost everyone on the planet but that's not a valid complaint. All of this was entirely necessary in a world attempting to stop a virus that killed millions. And some petty discomfort about masks or about the disruption that lockdowns caused do not deserve to be heard, as this is just a regular part of that process and people need to accept it instead of getting louder & louder with their complaints in hindsight. Millions died! Wearing a mask was the least anyone could do! Same with lockdowns! Learning to adapt and deal with a majorly dangerous situation is an important part of humanity's resilience - that's something we should still be thinking about all these years later.
Actually, my employer had an anonymous comment board during COVID, and a lot of people LOVED it! They said they loved staying with their friends, family and neighbours and never wanted to be forced to work exclusively from Mitte again. But otherwise I agree with you – I think Germany did a very good job, we got the vaccines fairly quickly and mostly fairly, we had straight-forward rules, the apps actually were useful for getting into places / proving vaccine status.
After having now lived here for five years, I've now concluded that the easiest and cheapest form of digitalization would be to give every German household a fax machine. (And then add the fax number to the resident's Anmeldung record.)
This started as a joke. But I'm 90% serious. A lot of digitalization solutions are expensive and complex and don't genuinely result in anything that much better than sending a fax.
I'm grateful for much of how Germany and Berlin handled the pandemic. Our vaccine rollout was a bit slow but methodical, and ultimately quite fair. After the first failed summer (where Germany thought it was special and largely ignored the potential uptick), resources (masks, financial assistance) were pretty widely available. There were helpful programs such as relationship reunification for those living countries apart, and other things that I wouldn't have expected, and couldn't expect from other countries. Germany was also slow on the science, however, particularly on the importance of air purification and fresh air, though they eventually got there.
Where I think Berlin failed was in changing the rules every week or two. I would have rather had stricter regulations than be subject to constant changes. I think it made a lot of people a little crazy, and ultimately resulted in backlash. I also thought the curfew period that we experienced late in the lockdowns period was a bit excessive. But overall, it seems we benefitted - so many people I know in the States are still utterly paranoid about Covid, and sometimes with good reason, as the vaccination rates remain low and people are still getting quite sick. It feels like a world away; here, those still masking are (mostly) either immune compromised or actively ill (and I do wish more people would stay home or mask when they're sick).
Does anyone know how you report possible human trafficking? We live near a pole dancing bar AND a (newer) nail studio, and the "office" between them takes in some really large bean sprout deliveries.
Even if Berlin made some mistakes or did a few strange things during those pandemic years, I don't mind. It happens. It is what it is. The entire world was scrambling to do what they thought was right, while attempting to mitigate death & danger for everyone, and figure out practical solutions on the fly, including cloth masks or lockdowns or whatever. This is normal. No one is perfect. But they tried anyway - hopefully learning some good lessons.
What I am extremely tired of now is hearing all of the petty, absurd complaints about "But I had to wear a mask!" "Lockdown was so lonely!" "What the government did was tyranny!" Or whatever crap is coming out from certain people nowadays. Of course it was a lonely, sad time for almost everyone on the planet but that's not a valid complaint. All of this was entirely necessary in a world attempting to stop a virus that killed millions. And some petty discomfort about masks or about the disruption that lockdowns caused do not deserve to be heard, as this is just a regular part of that process and people need to accept it instead of getting louder & louder with their complaints in hindsight. Millions died! Wearing a mask was the least anyone could do! Same with lockdowns! Learning to adapt and deal with a majorly dangerous situation is an important part of humanity's resilience - that's something we should still be thinking about all these years later.
Actually, my employer had an anonymous comment board during COVID, and a lot of people LOVED it! They said they loved staying with their friends, family and neighbours and never wanted to be forced to work exclusively from Mitte again. But otherwise I agree with you – I think Germany did a very good job, we got the vaccines fairly quickly and mostly fairly, we had straight-forward rules, the apps actually were useful for getting into places / proving vaccine status.
After having now lived here for five years, I've now concluded that the easiest and cheapest form of digitalization would be to give every German household a fax machine. (And then add the fax number to the resident's Anmeldung record.)
This started as a joke. But I'm 90% serious. A lot of digitalization solutions are expensive and complex and don't genuinely result in anything that much better than sending a fax.
Stick with me here. What if -- just what if -- that fax appeared on a SCREEN instead of a piece of paper.
Just an idea.
Yeah that's fine, there are cloud based fax services.
This saved my morning.
I'm grateful for much of how Germany and Berlin handled the pandemic. Our vaccine rollout was a bit slow but methodical, and ultimately quite fair. After the first failed summer (where Germany thought it was special and largely ignored the potential uptick), resources (masks, financial assistance) were pretty widely available. There were helpful programs such as relationship reunification for those living countries apart, and other things that I wouldn't have expected, and couldn't expect from other countries. Germany was also slow on the science, however, particularly on the importance of air purification and fresh air, though they eventually got there.
Where I think Berlin failed was in changing the rules every week or two. I would have rather had stricter regulations than be subject to constant changes. I think it made a lot of people a little crazy, and ultimately resulted in backlash. I also thought the curfew period that we experienced late in the lockdowns period was a bit excessive. But overall, it seems we benefitted - so many people I know in the States are still utterly paranoid about Covid, and sometimes with good reason, as the vaccination rates remain low and people are still getting quite sick. It feels like a world away; here, those still masking are (mostly) either immune compromised or actively ill (and I do wish more people would stay home or mask when they're sick).
Disappointing anti-worker jab at the start of this issue.
sorry, these strikes are getting me down
Does anyone know how you report possible human trafficking? We live near a pole dancing bar AND a (newer) nail studio, and the "office" between them takes in some really large bean sprout deliveries.
That's a very odd combo.
Here's your huckleberry:
https://www.berlin.de/sen/arbeit/beschaeftigung/schwarzarbeitsbekaempfung/anzeigenaufnahme/
I don't know a semantics for huckleberry in this context, but I emailed Pankow from that.