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Low death rate in Germany

(225 Posts)
Malteserdiet Wed 18-Mar-20 10:43:47

Germany is traditionally known as a nation that follows rules and runs a very efficient system. Italy, France, Spain and the UK less so - although of course all have their own positive merits.

Could this be a factor as to why they so far have a relatively low death rate? As of last night, Germany had over 9000 cases and 24 deaths. The UK has just over 2000 confirmed cases and yet already 71 deaths.

Perhaps we all need to take heed of the German people’s willingness to listen to and follow their government’s advice and do the same here to help reduce the impact of this virus.

If this is indeed a correct assessment of what’s going on then I would urge Boris to make this connection in his next speech to the UK public and hope that we can achieve the same.

OP’s posts: |
SegregateMumBev Wed 18-Mar-20 10:45:02

2000 confirmed cases is a gross underestimate of the actual cases, given the UK's testing approach.

noblegiraffe Wed 18-Mar-20 10:45:36

But Germany has more cases - if it was all about following advice and staying indoors diligently, they would have fewer cases.

The interesting thing is the disparity between number of cases and number of deaths.

TinklyLittleLaugh Wed 18-Mar-20 10:45:45

I think part of it is probably that they are testing more so more confirmed cases. We probably have a lot more cases than the official figures.

Badabingbadabum Wed 18-Mar-20 10:46:15

Do they have a very good health system? So fewer elderly with conditions which put them at greater risk?

janinlondon Wed 18-Mar-20 10:46:27

The numbers tested are not at all comparable between UK and Germany.

Sparklingplasters Wed 18-Mar-20 10:47:11

You can’t trust our numbers due to lack of testing

Chaotica Wed 18-Mar-20 10:47:47

According to the news last night, we have at least 50000 cases. It depends if Germany has a similar number of untested people with the virus or not.

ballsdeep Wed 18-Mar-20 10:48:27

They said 55000 people could have it already bur because of lack of testing well never know

ElphiasDoge Wed 18-Mar-20 10:48:34

Probably partly that they were testing more. We will have many more cases than documented as we’ve been quite limited in our testing. They do also have a much higher number of ITU beds per head of population.

Kaftankween Wed 18-Mar-20 10:50:03

I thought I had read that Germany are not always attributing deaths to corona where a person has an underlying condition. They are recording the underlying condition instead.

GlacindaTheTroll Wed 18-Mar-20 10:50:06

I wouid like to know how many people are being tested in Germany.

We do not have any reason to think we are comparing like with like.

Unless anyone has ta good link to German stats based only on those ill enough to be admitted

Aspoonfullofjam Wed 18-Mar-20 10:51:08

Germany has the highest number of ventilators per 100k of population. I would say that’s why they have so few deaths. I would say it’s also as they are law abiding and are operating a test isolate and contact trace system. For context, Ireland is 21st on the list of ventilators per 100k of population, Uk is 22nd and we are both below Italy which is worrying. This is the reason why Ireland is pushing no schools wfh and all pubs etc closed to try stem the spread so we can cope when the surge happens.

Also shows why the Uk strategy is so outrageously bad.

GirlYouHaveNoFaithInMedicine Wed 18-Mar-20 10:55:45

Germany has the highest number of ventilators per 100k of population

Yes, and the highest number of ICU beds per 100k people. More than four times the UK!

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking Wed 18-Mar-20 10:56:27

There is no point looking at the number of cases in any country now.

Our NHS is not yet so overwhelmed for the difference in death rates to be down to great differences in treatment.

Yes there is also an issue with how the cause of death is recorded. Its unlikely with it's silo-health system that the USA is consistently in how it's attributing deaths.

Xylophonics Wed 18-Mar-20 10:58:06

Maybe they've tested more people?

I think we're tested those go to hospital mainly.

Snog Wed 18-Mar-20 10:58:45

UK has not got any idea whatsoever of how many cases we have.
Something which I think is the hugest mistake ever.

Doyoumind Wed 18-Mar-20 10:58:53

As PPs have said, we are only counting confirmed cases in hospitals now. We will only know months down the line the true impact.

LadyTiredWinterBottom2 Wed 18-Mar-20 10:59:56

Better healthcare. That's all there is to it. Italy's system isn't great. The NHS isn't great - not the staff, the available equipment, beds, infrastructure to support it.

GirlYouHaveNoFaithInMedicine Wed 18-Mar-20 11:01:14

Better healthcare. That's all there is to it.

I think there are some other factors also. Such as soming rates and pollution levels - both of which appear to increase your chances of complications.

katielilly Wed 18-Mar-20 11:01:45

I read that the death rate is approximately 1in 1000. So there is probably at least 70,000 cases in the UK to account for the 71 deaths to date.

anothernotherone Wed 18-Mar-20 11:07:20

Germany has far more intensive care beds per head of population - vastly more.

Germans are also vastly more likely to seek medical help if ill. This was a culture shock when we moved here. In Britian we're told we mustn't bother the very important doctors with our little issues and must be grateful, enlessly, for the NHS but not actually use it unless we're dying - and even then probably not.

The attitude in Germany is that its shockingly irresponsible not to seek medical attention early in order to stop things getting worse, and that doctors would rather see a patient unnecessarily than not see someone who needs intervention.

Zacharyezrarawlings Wed 18-Mar-20 11:07:21

its all about the testing. UK is testing very, very few people. In all likelihood actual incidence of this is now way over 9000 in the UK.

Mrhodgeymaheg Wed 18-Mar-20 11:09:10

I did wonder this too. We have far more cases than confirmed cases. Also, may depend on what the cause of death is and how they record this. Their health system is probably more robust than ours.

This has exposed how we deal with a pandemic properly so that we know what we are dealing with globally. All nations seem to be imposing different rules and testing and measuring cases differently. No wonder it is a mess. If all nations were more collaborative in dealing with this from the outset and were transparent and less fearful of the financial implications, things would be a lot better now. It doesn't help that Trump stirs things up at every opportunity.

donquixotedelamancha Wed 18-Mar-20 11:09:11


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