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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, Sean Norris, Quinn O'Dowd, Shawna Oliver, Helena Ortlieb, and Charlotte Prieu
May 19, 2020.
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: 1,317,267(Last week: 1,218,311)
COVID-19 related deaths: 157,312 (Last week: 143,911)
The EU/EEA/UK has 27.6% (last week: 31.9%) of the global total of reported cases and 49.4% (last week: 53.4%) of global total of COVID-19 related deaths.
Europe (EU, EEA, UK, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Turkey, Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Andorra, Monaco, Vatican City)
Total reported cases: 1,872,984 (last week: 1,621,562)
COVID-19 related deaths: 167,538 (last week: 151,978)
Europe as a continent has 39.3% (last week: 42.6%) of the global total of reported cases and 52.7% (last week: 56.4%) of global total of COVID-19 related deaths.
SOURCE:
The coronavirus crisis in Europe is now several months old, and as we have seen over the past weeks of this report there is little coherence among the European nations in terms of the national reactions to the pandemic and the various strategies to contain and combat the contagion. As such, the curves concerning the virus are also varied. This week we will be looking at the various results. Which countries have had success in flattening the curve? Which have not?
Also, we will look at the various things that are reopening and the significant closings and cancellations in response to the crisis. One such continental case is the Eurovision Song Contest, which was supposed to take place from May 12-16; the event was cancelled in early April, and has now been postponed until next year (dates yet to be determined). Also suffering is the music festival industry, the bulk of which takes place in the summer. Most events for the entire year have already been postponed (there are a few holdouts, but all signs point to cancellation because of festivals reliance on musician touring networks). In this post we will look at other examples of cancellations that have resulted from the crisis.
SOURCES:
AUSTRIA
Report by Helena Ortlieb. Helena is a junior at DePaul, double majoring in History and German Studies. She studied abroad at Vienna during the Spring 2020 semester and participated in the Illinois in Vienna Program.
Total reported cases: 16,179 (Last week: 15,671)
COVID-19 related deaths: 629 (Last week: 609).
Confirmed recoveries: 14,405 (Last week: 13,698).
SOURCES:
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 across the world, Austria has had one of the most encouraging experiences with the virus. After their economic shutdown in mid-March, the numbers have drastically decreased. On March 23, they reported 1,062 cases in one day. Since then, the curve has almost completely flattened. Since April 17, Austria was able to keep its newly confirmed cases bellow 100 every day. The health care system has not been overwhelmed, with only 54 ICU beds occupied throughout the country. With these encouraging signs, the economy has slowly begun to reopen with small stores reopening on April 14. On May 1, other shops like salons and malls reopened, and the ban on gatherings of up to 10 people was lifted. As of May 15, cafés and restaurants will be reopened with health restrictions in place.
Vienna is known for its spring and summer public, outdoor events, like concerts, festivals, and their Danube Island activities. These events will all be canceled until at least July 1. Small events may be permitted after July 1, however, the larger city events will be postponed until at least August 31.
Much of Austria’s economy relies heavily on the ski, resort, and tourism industries. In late February, Tyrol, one of the leading tourism states in Austria, was deeply affected by the COVID-19 outbreak coming from Italy. One famous Tyrolean resort in the town of Ischgl, known as “Ibiza of the Alpes,” was linked to 2,000 corona cases throughout Europe. In light of this discovery, the resort has promised to tone down its “party” reputation. In recent days, the borders between Austria and Germany have reopened, and many people are hoping to maintain summer holiday travel plans. The government is hoping that, if the curve continues to trend downward, they will be able to reopen the country to tourism as soon as possible.
SOURCES:
BULGARIA
Report by Margarita Kuzmanova. Margarita is a freshman majoring in Aerospace Engineering.
Total reported cases: 2259 (last week: 1872)
COVID-19 related deaths: 112 (last week: 86)
Confirmed recoveries: 646 (last week: 401)
Turkey now opens its borders to Bulgarians who are in need of treatment for Covid-19, along with up to two accompanying people. They will not be required to wait through a 14-day quarantine. The sick will be treated in hospitals initially meant for health-tourism.
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: 8604 (last week: 8002)
COVID-19 related deaths: 301 (last week: 269)
Confirmed recoveries: 5687 (last week: 4369)
SOURCE:
Accurate testing reveals that 1 in 20 people in the Czech Republic have already had COVID-19. From the 25th of May, bars, restaurants and clubs will be allowed to reopen, with the stipulation that they close by 11pm. Takeaway will still be available between 11pm and 6 am. Outdoor and indoor swimming pools will also opened from May 25th. Facemasks will be required at all pools, except when in the water. Excepting public pools, from May 25th it will no longer be required to wear facemasks outdoors. Facemasks will still be required in any public indoor spaces, or other locations where social distancing cannot be maintained.
SOURCE:
FRANCE
Report by Charlotte Prieu. Charlotte is a PhD candidate in French linguistics in the Department of French and Italian.
Total reported cases: 142,903 (last week: 137,150)
1998 currently in intensive care units (last week: 3147)
COVID-19 related deaths: 28,239 (last week: 25,809)
Confirmed recoveries: 61,728 (last week: 53,972)
SOURCE:
The "pressure" on ICUs throughout the country is slowly easing off: for over 5 weeks now, the number of people in ICU has been decreasing daily.
Although many cultural activities are canceled until further notice, Macron pledges for a learning and cultural summer. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced on May 14th that French people will be able to go on vacation during the summer, meaning that the limit of 100km for non-essential trips will be removed. Borders, however, will remain closed until at least June 15th.
On May 14th, the CEO of Sanofi made a statement announcing that the US would receive priority over ordering Covid-19 vaccines once they are in production by the pharmaceutical company. The news led to disapproving reactions from the government as Sanofi receives funding from the government for its activities.
SOURCE:
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: 177,482 (last week: 168,665)
COVID-19 related deaths: 8145 (last week: 7322)
Confirmed recoveries: 155,700 (last week: 139,900)
SOURCE:
World Health Organization (WHO)
Total reported cases: 174,697 (last week: 166,091)
COVID-19 related deaths: 7935 (last week: 7119)
SOURCE:
Robert Koch Institut (RKI)
Total reported cases: 174,697 (last week: 164,807)
COVID-19 related deaths: 7935 (last week: 6996)
Confirmed recoveries: c.154,600 (last week: c. 137,400)
SOURCE:
The infection rate in Germany has remained remarkably low throughout the entire COVID-19 pandemic with relatively tame statistics to reflect the situation. Immediately after the reopening of certain small businesses, Germany saw a spike in the infection rate that surpassed 1.0 (meaning each infected person is infecting approximately one healthy person) for the first time since the beginning of April. This increase caused concern among experts that the German government had been too hasty with relaxing restrictions but, nearly two weeks later, the infection rate has deflated below 1.0 and approaches the same level as before restrictions were relaxed. Currently, Germany’s government believes their national curve is flattening and is preparing to proceed with plans to gradually reopen the economy. The media has reacted controversially to this announcement, with some stations claiming Germany is taking hasty and unnecessary risk while other applaud the government’s control in planning and close monitoring of statistics.
Despite Germany’s relaxed restrictions on business operations, there still remains a narrow definition of what is considered essential for citizens to venture outside of the home. Like most nations, grocery shopping, doctor visits, and restaurants that can handle take-out orders are deemed essential. With the reopening of small businesses, certain retail stores including florists, bookshops, car outlets, and bike rentals were permitted to continue operation, given they are smaller than 800 square meters. Some graduating students in Berlin were permitted to take on-campus finals.
Germany’s large car brands, such as Volkswagen, restarted their production in late April in a drive to help get Europe working again. Since Germany started to lessen their restrictions in mid-April, the Volkswagen group (which also owns Skoda, Audi, Bentley, Porsche, and Seat) resumed production at a slow rate to start. Not only will it help jumpstart the economy throughout Europe, it also serves as a symbol for the people who work in the industry. It symbolizes the return to a working world. Just like the Bundesliga boosts morale, this does the same for the working people of Germany and Europe.
Some local authorities in Germany are continuing to keep stores, restaurants, and fitness studios locked down due to a spike in COVID-19 cases only days after Chancellor Angela Merkel released that Germany can slowly begin to come out of a lockdown. Some of the restrictions that have been eased by the government is that pubs, gyms, larger shops, and cafes are allowed to reopen with people also being able to socialize outside of their household. However, with this there have been spikes in cases in certain places, specifically three meat processing plants. Schools are planning to reopen with children being tested regularly and social distancing measures put into place in the classroom.
Even though Germany has begun the process of reopening, many future events including Munich’s Oktoberfest (several months away) have been cancelled. This comes as a fear of a second wave is expected to hit Germany according to the public help experts. A video from Deutsche Welle has explained that being vigilant is the key to a successful reopening to the country. The country also has plans to kick off the restart of the Bundesliga giving professional sports back to the German people. They will be doing this without fans, which is key to safely resume play. It looks as though if Germany remains smart, they should continue to keep their people safe.
In addition to Oktoberfest, the Berlin Marathon (scheduled for September 27) has also been cancelled. The marathon is one of the six major marathon races in the world. The other marathons, including Boston, London, Chicago and New York, are to be rescheduled, but no one knows for sure because it is dependent on the future spread of the virus.
SOURCES:
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: 18,529 (last week: 15,047)
COVID-19 related deaths: 925 (last week: 755)
SOURCES:
The Upper Silesia region of Poland has been noted to be the hotspot for COVID-19. Due to the industrial aspect of the region, COVID-19 has been able to spread rapidly. Rumors of governmental isolation have been circulating however the government denies instigating the proposal. The death to infection ratio has risen from 5.01% to 5.03%. So far there have been 6,918 recoveries. Poland is set to reopen restaurants and hair studios on May 18th in an effort to continue to ease restrictions. Poland’s presidential election was never formally canceled, however with the turnout being less than 0%, it has been titled as a ‘ghost election’. The Polish government hopes to hold the election as soon as possible, prospectively even in June.
SOURCES:
SPAIN
Report by Maria Arruti Iparraguirre. Maria is a PhD student in Spanish Literatures and Cultures.
Total reported cases: 231,606 (last week: 221,447)
COVID-19 related deaths: 27,709 (last week: 26,070)
Confirmed recoveries: 196,958 (last week: 128,511)
SOURCE:
During the first days of the pandemic, daily confirmed cases grew extremely fast, however, since then they have tended to stabilize. Spain’s curve is flattening out. Last March 30th, the Spanish Government declared that only essential workers could keep working. The services were reduced to the really essential ones like health personnel, bank employees, delivery people or supermarket cashiers. Now, as the lockdown is getting more flexible, some other businesses are opening too.
SWEDEN
Reported by Lucas Henry
Total reported cases: 30,377 (last week: 24,623)
COVID-19 related deaths: 3698 (last week: 2679)
SOURCE:
Sweden’s approach to the coronavirus crisis has indeed resulted in a higher rate of infection and deaths when compared to their Scandinavian neighbors, as their percentage of overall deaths are 27% above normal—this metric takes into account all deaths, which therefore includes COVID-19 deaths that may have slipped through the cracks because they were not officially caused by the coronavirus. This puts Sweden on par with moderately-hit nations such as Switzerland, but well ahead of Norway, which has a +0% change from the same time last year. Chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell insists that the strategy will pay off, as his country’s goal was not to contain the virus but to flatten the curve so that hospitals would be able to handle the traffic. Even though the virus has continued to spread throughout the country, hospitals are not taxed and are still well below the cap level; 30 percent of intensive care beds are available throughout the country. Data also suggests that the curve has flattened in some urban areas, including Malmö. There are also other discussions that while this approach works in Sweden, it would not in other places where trust in the government is low (Swedish governmental trust is currently at 80%; the average for trust in national governments in Europe as a whole is 34%, according to the latest Eurobarometer).
SOURCES:
COVID-19 in Europe, May 19, 2020
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