Coronavirus

I relocated to Germany amid COVID. Why Europe struggles to control it is clear.

The stark differences in the handling of the pandemic between a developing nation and developed countries.

December 2020.

It had already been 9 months since COVID-19 threw my relocation plans out of whack.

I was running out of patience and at the same time the entire family was anxious.

Finally, in Dec. 2020 our VISA and approvals were ready. It was time to make the call.

Back in India everything had started to open up and the daily COVID cases were off their peak. On the contrary, Germany just went into a stricter lock down, closing its schools for the first time.

Germany and Europe, in general, were experiencing a second wave and a huge blow that was!

All things considered, we decided that we will walk through fire and relocate now. A lot was at stake!

On the night of 30th Dec, we finally started our journey.

The taxi to Airport:

We didn’t miss the usual sights, insane Indian traffic on the way to the airport, bad roads, people out doing shopping….

But to my surprise, everyone was wearing masks; they may not be wearing it the right way, but it was a sigh of relief they were wearing one at least.

My taxi driver also had his N95 mask on and on the way police also seemed to be checking. Though I knew their interests leaned more towards making a quick buck vs enforcing the law of land or caring for people's health.

To be fair though, I have witnessed govt. deputed authorities checking and penalizing people without masks a few days earlier.

After an hour's drive, we reached the airport several hours ahead of departure.

At the airport:

Then there were the emotional moments and the goodbyes. Mostly everyone was going to badly miss our three young kids.

My 7-year-old niece was the first to cry while she said goodbye to her sister.

Before entering the Airport, there were thermal scanning stations that we had to go through along with temperature checks.

The airport security who checked the ID was behind a protective screen for COVID safety.

At the check-in counter, they asked a whole lot of questions on why we were making the journey and if it was required at all.

They were checking all the documents including place of stay, unusually thoroughly.

As the checks took more time, at one point me and my wife were wondering if they would allow us to travel at all.

Meanwhile, on the counter beside us an argument was going on, they wouldn’t allow the poor lady to travel despite having a ticket and her checking with their helpline several times earlier.

Finally for us, after some 20 minutes of checking and validation, we were allowed to board. Both of us let out a sigh of relief.

Our family was still waiting outside, just in case, lady luck wasn't in the mood. We informed them of our clearance and proceeded to immigration.

Through immigration and security checks…

At immigration, there were wardens or security reminding people to keep social distancing.

It was quite empty, unlike the heavily crowded scenes from my memory.

House keeping staff were cleaning trays and surfaces at the security check occasionally.

At times people were preoccupied with removing their belts, shoes, and what-not, people seemed to forget the protocols, but in general, it seemed like a safe environment.

Ahead towards the boarding gates...

While walking towards the boarding gate, we decided to have some midnight snacks.

Got some sandwiches and coffee from Starbucks, after collecting the change, I made use of the free to use disinfectant at the Café.

As usual, everyone wanted a bite from my sandwich … lol

After cleaning the mess we created, we moved towards the boarding gate.

I was glad to see that there were disinfectants placed even in restrooms.

By now my hands were starting to burn from the use of disinfectant throughout the day.

I understood why the hands of a doctor who was attending to my son's surgery a few months back looked burnt, at that time I had guessed but now I think I knew it was the sanitizer.

On the way was a Forex counter where I wanted to exchange some remaining currency.

But looking at the FOREX rates, it seemed that I would be paying them a commission to perform a dignified day light robbery on me.

I still felt tempted, but…

when the number of documents they required me to produce went past the number of currency I was trying to exchange, I said No Thank You!

Finally we were at the boarding gate.

There was at least an hour’s wait ahead of us.

We were flying Lufthansa to Frankfurt.

An Air India flight was scheduled to fly to Frankfurt 30 minutes ahead of us.

The Air India staff were already preparing passengers for boarding. Passengers were asked to wear masks correctly and were given a PPE kit including a face shield.

Even young kids were required to put on the protective covering.

I was cringing thinking how uncomfortable it would be to travel 9 hours with such impediments.

The N95 mask itself was suffocating enough for me.

I began to prepare my mindset for what was about to follow for us.

At least some of us have read the horror stories with families being de-boarded when young kids refused to wear the face shield in a flight.

We started mentally preparing our kids for the flight in the PPE kit. It was their first flight and this was how they were gonna make it :(

Finally it was boarding time

They started announcements for our flight. Yet there were no signs of our PPE kit or face shield.

I was surprised!!

At that time the COVID cases in India were rapidly declining (at least that was what the statistics showed).

Germany on the other hand was hit by a rather brutal second wave.

Any normal person would be forgiven for assuming that the controls would be stricter for a developed country in such times.

On the flight, things were as expected, the air hostess kept reminding some passengers to keep the masks on.

Interestingly, a day later my wife would tell me that the passenger in her row wasn’t wearing the mask for most of the time and was coughing throughout and how scared she felt!!

It was a rather pleasant flight with food requiring special mention.

We reached Frankfurt airport in the morning.

After freshening up at the restroom,

I was a bit confused when I couldn’t find any sanitizer placed anywhere; unbelievably I searched everywhere again but it was not to be found. What a stark difference from the earlier experience!!!

Since I had left mine in my bag, I managed to wash my hands with the goodness of soap for 30 seconds.

After a bit of looking around, we zeroed in on the immigration area.

In the immigration queue, there was no social distancing! It was as if nobody heard of coronavirus!!

We waited away from the crowd for a good 45 minutes till the queue was smaller. Whatever one has to do to keep the family safe!

Now there were fewer people and was very easy to maintain distance. We could also see a warden now who was instructing people to follow the protocols. Maybe she was there earlier too but was drowned out by the crowd??

In between, there was a young woman, a foreigner, probably Turkish, who skipped the queue past us. She was confronted and schooled by another lady standing ahead soon enough. It was in contrast to the discipline I had heard about that Germans follow. Maybe she was just a traveler!!

Luckily the warden asked us to cut through the queue to the front!! Perhaps one of the nice perks when you have young kids in Germany or was it karma :) The woman who skipped past us was still far behind.

After immigration and collecting the baggage we headed out. We were worried about the temperature checks and quarantine rules we have to go through.

Also anxious if we caught something on the way!! Too may thoughts.

We walked through a door and we were already in the lobby!!

WHAT???

I stood there utterly confused. Where are the medics? Where are the temperature checks?

We stood there sometime hoping that someone would ask us to get the temperature checked.

We also carried printout of registration form for travelers from risk countries and a COVID –ve certificate. No takers??

When we realized there was no one coming, we headed to the pickup area.

The driver appeared and we were on our way.

The driver was wearing a mask as mandated by law.

After a 2 hour long drive, we were near to our place.

I observed several people on the street, mostly they were enjoying a walk alone or with their partners.

But none of them had anything resembling a mask.

It was an odd feeling when I recounted after reaching home that none of the people I saw on the way from the airport to my destination were wearing a mask!

During my first few weeks in Germany, I observed,

people were also allowed in shops and supermarkets without a mask; though there were laws stating otherwise.

It was not until mid of January when the government announced a much stricter lockdown that they “required” people to wear masks inside shops.

Even then,

masks were mandated in only specific areas of the city. In parks and several other public spaces I could rarely see anyone wearing a mask!

Remember that we are talking about a country with hospitals out of beds and deaths from COVID had gone past 1000 a day.

While the government had finally realized the gravity of the situation and introduced stricter laws and restrictions to control COVID, its people don’t seem as bothered by the crisis!

Apparently, from my friends I came to know that things aren’t too different in other parts of Europe.

Schools also have reopened after a brief closure!

Fighting and defeating something like COVID-19 requires a lot of determination, planning and above all participation from the Government and the public alike.

If people continue their casual attitude, then they not only prolong the lock-down and uncertainties, they are also risking their lives as well as others’ from COVID.

Not to mention this also sows the seeds for further tragedy from Job losses, food shortages, supply chain problems, and whatnot!

If you don’t believe in COVID and have sold yourself to one of the conspiracy theories, then this is the BEST chance for you to sacrifice (just your beliefs) for the greater good!

Hoping for a better future for humanity….