The Mystery Of Low German Covid-19 Fatality Rates

Early, aggressive testing, well-equipped ICUs, and faith in the government resulted in a remarkably low death count

- Katrin Bennhold

They call them corona taxis: Medics outfitted in protective gear, driving around the empty streets of Heidelberg, Germany, to check on patients who are at home, five or six days into being sick with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They take a blood test, looking for signs that a patient is about to go into a steep decline. They might suggest hospitalisation even to a patient who has only mild symptoms; the chances of surviving that decline are vastly improved by being in a hospital when it begins.

“There is this tipping point at the end of the first week,” said professor Hans-Georg Kräusslich, head of virology at University Hospital in Heidelberg, one of the country’s leading research hospitals. “If you are a person whose lungs might fail, that’s when you will start deteriorating.”

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