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| Photo by Peter Christer, via Creative Commons. License available here. |
The European Union Center at the University of Illinois strives to be a resource regarding European and European Union issues. As such, we have organized a group of U of I student volunteers with expertise and/or ties to various European regions or nations to keep track of statistics and developments. Each week we will post their findings to the EUC blog.
Contributing students: Maria Arruti Iparraguirre, Pamela Binda, Margarita Kuzmanova, Evelyn Lamb, Lara Morgan, Sean Norris, Quinn O'Dowd, Shawna Oliver, Alejandra-Isabel Otero Pires, and Charlotte Prieu
EUROPE (Overview)
Reported by Lucas Henry, Coordinator of Academic Programs, European Union Center. Lucas is also a PhD candidate in musicology, with a research focus on European popular music, music festivals, and European Union cultural policy.
European Union, European Economic Area, and United Kingdom
Total reported cases: 697,732. COVID-19 related deaths: 64,010.
The EU/EEA/UK has 44.6% of the global total of reported cases and 67.3% of global total of COVID-19 related deaths.
Europe (EU, EEA, UK, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Andorra, Monaco, Vatican City)
Total reported cases: 787,544. COVID-19 related deaths: 66,115.
Europe as a continent has 50.3% of the global total of reported cases and 69.5% of global total of COVID-19 related deaths.
SOURCE:
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control: https://qap.ecdc.europa.eu/public/extensions/COVID-19/COVID-19.html
The European Union has approved a €500 billion “rescue package” that includes €240 billion from the European Stability Mechanism, €200 billion from the European Investment bank, and the remaining amount from a European Commission plan involving short-term work projects. Reactions have been mixed, as EU politicians have both praised the package as proof that the EU can rise to meet challenges while others criticize the tardiness of the agreement.
The European Commission has also been active in helping neighboring countries confront the coronavirus crisis by providing monetary aid and equipment. In the Balkans, for example, the EU has sent €38 million and surplus ventilators in support, and over €140 million to Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijian, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. China has been active in providing support for these countries as well.
The director of the European Research Council, Mauro Ferrari, has stepped down, citing disappointment to the European Union’s response to COVID-19. His main frustration was in the lack of coordination of health policy among the member states. The European Union has historically had low competence in this area, with most responsibility left to the member states. Much of Dr. Ferrari’s criticism stems from the agency’s rejection of his plans for aiding European scientists, as this was seen as a top-down initiative; the ERC is required to deliver grants to individual, ground-up projects.
SOURCES:
WESTERN BALKANS
Report by Alejandra Pires. Alejandra is a PhD candidate in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, with a research focus on Soviet cinema and literature. She teaches first- and second-year Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.
Albania
Total reported cases: 400. COVID-19 related deaths: 22.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Total reported cases: 816. COVID-19 related deaths: 35.
Croatia
Total reported cases: 1343. COVID-19 related deaths: 19.
Kosovo
Total reported cases: 184. COVID-19 related deaths: 5.
Montenegro
Total reported cases: 249. COVID-19 related deaths: 2.
North Macedonia
Total reported cases: 617. COVID-19 related deaths: 30.
Serbia
Total reported cases: 2666. COVID-19 related deaths: 65.
Slovenia
Total reported cases: 1091. COVID-19 related deaths: 40.
SOURCE:
In migrant camps in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina freedom of movement has been drastically restricted due to the Covid-19 situation. Varies NGOs are unable to send their people into the migrant camps in order to help them, conduct various workshops, or provide other services. Moreover, the people who temporarily reside in these camps are unable to comply with social distancing rules set by the governments of these countries due to the cramped conditions of the camps. Additionally, the Serbian government imposed a quarantine on all its reception centers since March 17th. Thousands of people are being affected in both countries. Moreover, violent incidents seem to be increasing in the camps.
SOURCE:
The Croatian government has provided 43 million kunas (5.8 million euros) to help Bosnia combat Covid-19, particularly to parts of the country where large populations of Croats live. This move was intended as a show of solidarity and support, as well as being in accordance with Croatia’s constitutional guideline that the Republic of Croatia will protect the rights and interests of its citizens living and residing abroad and promote their ties with their homeland, as well as special care and protection from the Republic of Croatia.
SOURCE:
BULGARIA
Report by Margarita Kuzmanova. Margarita is a freshman majoring in Aerospace Engineering.
Total reported cases: 618. COVID-19 related deaths: 24. Confirmed recoveries: 48.
SOURCES:
Summary: Hospitals have been promised an 85% increase to their budget by the government due to the pandemic situation. However, they claim that this money would barely be enough to pay out the regular salaries as the personnel has been increased in order to simultaneously treat COVID-19 and other patients. The money would also need to be used to equip the hospitals which do not have the medicine and equipment to properly treat COVID-19 patients. The Bulgarian hospitals also worry that due to the pandemic the access to some appointments, operations and procedures will be limited.
SOURCES:
CZECH REPUBLIC
Report by Quinn O’Dowd. Quinn is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Sociology, studying tourism and consumption.
Total reported cases: 5,467. COVID-19 related deaths: 112. Confirmed recoveries: 301.
SOURCE:
Since the 19th of March, anyone going into public is required to wear a face mask. Minister of Health, Adam Vojtěch, clarified this week that people with autism, family members travelling in the same car and public transportation drivers would be excluded from the face mask policy. A so-called smart quarantine is being tested in the South Moravian region, wherein there is widespread testing and infected individuals are isolated. After an 18 hour meeting, parliament passed new laws regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. President Zeman signed three of these laws, 15 other such laws await senate approval.
SOURCES:
FRANCE
Report by Charlotte Prieu. Charlotte is a PhD candidate in French linguistics in the Department of French and Italian.
Total reported cases: 86,334 (7,066 in intensive care units). COVID-19 related deaths: 12,210. Reported recoveries: 23,206.
SOURCE:
In France, the government has put a lockdown in place. People who need to go outside have to carry a signed statement explaining the reason why they are outside. The latest version allows 7 reasons: essential workers going to their workplace (also requires a signed document from the company); a trip to get essential products such as buying food and picking up a prescription; medical appointments that cannot be fulfilled online; urgent reasons such as caring for disabled or elderly people and children; brief trips for the practice of physical activity outside (limited to 1 hour per day and up to 1km (2/3 of a mile); court dates; and community service mandated by the government. This document is now also available on smartphones. People who are not carrying the signed document or found adhering to the conditions of the lockdown may be fined of 135€ (~$145) and even up to 375€ (~$410) for a repeated offense within 15 days. In Paris, where the weather has been really nice for all of March and April, people seem to go out to exercise a lot. The local government has forbidden people from exercising outdoors between 10am and 7pm. The executive order, which was put in place on Wednesday, April 8th, has not led to the expected effect of reducing the number of people outside; instead, people have moved their workout to the early evening and the Sein riverbanks became very crowded.
The French government's communication about wearing masks has greatly changed since the beginning of the pandemic. At first, the recommendation was to wear masks only when showing symptoms and that washing hands and covering one's mouth when coughing/sneezing was enough for asymptomatic people but has since progressively moved to suggest (sometimes require) that people wear masks when outdoors.
The impact on the economy is not measurable quite yet but the government has put in place measures to support workers and companies, including partial unemployment, delaying the payment of social security contributions by employers, and providing tax extensions.
SOURCES:
https://media.interieur.gouv.fr/deplacement-covid-19/ (document for approved trips outdoors)
GERMANY
Report by Evelyn Lamb, Sean Norris, and Shawna Oliver.
Evelyn is a sophomore majoring in economics and Germanic studies, with a minor in art history. She plans to pursue graduate studies in German.
Sean is a junior majoring in global studies and German.
Shawna is a senior majoring in history. She is also a member of the Air Force ROTC.
*Germany is an excellent case to highlight discrepancies in statistics. Each student looked to different reporting agencies for information, and each returned different results. See below.
Worldometer:
Total reported cases: 113,615. COVID-19 related deaths: 2,349. Reported recoveries: 46,300.
SOURCE:
World Health Organization
Total reported cases: 108,202. COVID-19 related deaths: 2,107.
SOURCE:
Robert Koch Institut
Total reported cases: 108,202. COVID-19 related deaths: 2,107. Reported recoveries: c.49,900.
SOURCE:
Other countries continue to question Germany’s low mortality rate, with a plethora of news articles speculating the possible cause. The General consensus is summarized nicely by the New York Times who cite widespread testing, lower average age of confirmed patients, widespread observance of social distancing protocols and the ability of hospitals to accommodate the increased volume of patients.
Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes a new app developed to help users trace possible contact with those who have tested positive for COVID-19. The app uses Bluetooth to log a user’s proximity with other cellphones. This app protects the data of users and doesn’t store the location of those utilizing the app. Epidemiologists say that this may be able to help contain flare-ups of COVID-19. If able to get permission from those who test positive, doctors would be able to use the system to put the information into a central server to help gather information about the virus and how it spreads. The German government is looking to launch the app to the general public by mid-April.
Despite COVID-19 travel restrictions, Germany and Romania have agreed to allow migrant workers from Romania to come help assist in the German harvest. Germany is incredibly reliant on seasonal migrant workers, and in the current climate with COVID-19 this will greatly help bringing food to homes. According to Deutsche Welle, Germany was looking for 300,000 guest workers to help with the harvest. Now that some restrictions are in place they are using people who are already in the country, and attempting to bring in a much lower number to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The city of Heidelberg has instituted a program called Corona Taxis, in which medical professionals in full protective gear drive to the homes of COVID-19 positive patients or suspected cases to run blood tests and monitor conditions.
SOURCES:
ITALY
Report by Lara Morgan. Lara is a freshman with a major in Global Studies and a minor in French.
Total reported cases: 143,626. COVID-19 related deaths: 18.279. Reported recoveries: 28,740.
96,877 are currently positive for coronavirus. Of the currently positive cases, around 65,000 are in home isolation, 28,400 are in the hospital, and 3,600 are in intensive care.
SOURCE:
Response: On April 14th, Italy will allow the reopening of bookstores and a few other largely symbolic industries. If all goes well, quarantine restrictions will be greatly relaxed on May 4th. A common practice among Italians is to spend Easter at a summer/second house, which this year is being met with increased surveillance and severe fines. However, the Italian population continues to maintain a sense of community and cultural tradition--singing Italian classics and dancing in their balconies, digitally sharing a drink at “happy hour”, and a renewed nation-wide emphasis on traditional Italian cuisine. Also admirable are the youth’s efforts in helping older and disadvantaged citizens by delivering groceries, medecine, and sometimes financial help. Many use the app “Next Door” for this purpose. In general, Italians seem to be making the best out of a very difficult and even traumatizing situation.
POLAND
Report by Pamela Binda. Pamela is a senior with a major in Political Science and a minor in Slavic Languages, Literature, and Culture.
Total reported cases: 5,205. COVID-19 related deaths: 159. Reported recoveries: 284.
SOURCES:
Poland has continued to implement the proposed plan and has extended its border lockdown until May 3rd. Limits on school and transportation will be extended for another two weeks while businesses will remain on lockdown until April 19th. Over 200 PLN from the government has been given to entrepreneurs and scientists to research the prevention, treatment and diagnostics for viral diseases.The government has permitted the gathering of five people over Easter weekend while maintaining the restrictions set on Mass. The ruling party has proposed and passed a mail ballot method to continue the presidential election that was set to happen on May 10th. Poland has eliminated all in-person voting places and will send out ballots through the post for citizens to vote in the upcoming election.
SOURCES:
SPAIN
Report by Maria Arruti Iparraguirre. Maria is a PhD student in Spanish Literatures and Cultures.
Total reported cases: 146,690 (6180 in the past 24 hours, April 8). COVID-19 related deaths: 14,555. Reported recoveries: 48,021.
SOURCE:
https://covid19.isciii.es (Gobierno de España, Ministerio de Sanidad, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación)
For four consecutive days, from April 2 to 6, Spain registered a downward trend in the number of deaths. However, on April 7 and 8 the number of deaths increased, (743 dead people in April 7, and 757 in April 8) The quarantine was extended until April 26, and the Government expects normal life will be possible by then, although the end of confinement will have to happen in stages. Additionally, the Spanish Health Ministry will convey a trial – the largest one in Europe in this field- to test already existing drugs, in order to prevent the spread of the virus in high-risk population.
SOURCES:
SWEDEN
Reported by Lucas Henry
Total reported cases: 9,141. COVID-19 related deaths: 793.
SOURCE:
Sweden has been heavily criticized lately for its lax approach to social distancing measures. Elementary schools, restaurants, and many other social spaces around the country remain open, which has led many to label the strategy a “herd immunity” approach, which says that the most vulnerable should be quarantined while the virus is allowed to circulate among the populations that are best equipped to handle the illness. Instead, Swedish authorities argue that their approach is not hands-off, but rather “less stringent” than many other European nations and that while it may not be appropriate for Germany, the UK and Italy, it is in the words of Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, “right for Sweden.” This has led to an increase in an interesting type of nationalism, which journalist Göran Eriksson has labeled “folkhälsonationalism” (“public health nationalism”), where citizens believe that their nation’s approach to a health crisis is better than others.
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