My name is Petra Garrett. I was born and raised in Germany and have been living in the United States for almost 46 years. When I asked people about the financial hardships caused by COVID-19 and the lockdown, the general answer is that there are no huge issues because the situation has been well buffered by the German government. As it is throughout the globe, the governments have created and provided different programs to keep citizens afloat financially. Families with children have been supplied with additional financial help. Others can receive special unemployment funds.
In the issue of personal freedom, a lot of people are feeling restricted by mask wearing, shopping, restaurants, and travel restrictions, but there is a common acceptance and understand that those are necessary measures to keep people healthy and protected from COVID-19.
As to the global fear of COVID-19 being use as a political tool to move democratic nations into the communist regime, there is no fear of being taken by communism among the German people. Democracy is solid in Germany and not easily shaken – the people are comfortable in their freedom and see no threat. Right now, 61.1% of the people are fully vaccinated and children 12 and over have started to get vaccinated within the past few months.
My personal views on this global pandemic are that this is not the first time a pandemic has attacked human existence, and it won’t be the last. As humans all over the world, we must come together as one, evaluate what needs to be done (accept restrictions, listen to the science, understand, and accept the facts and stop politicizing the disease) to avoid further loss of life. There is hope for the future only if we have learned from this.
