This is absolutely horse shit. My mom is a provider and has always washed her hands before and after every patient. If they're not there is something very wrong with them.
The article did include a link to a study [1] about the low rates of handwashing among doctors and nurses. Although the article neglects to note the second line in the abstract's conclusion heading:
>In general, the study methods were not very robust and often ill reported.
Berlin is… a bit special. I've lived in several different German cities for months at a time, and one of those stints was in Berlin. Some parts are remarkably orderly. The Dahlem area in particular is quite tranquil and organized. Other sections of Berlin are a bit more lively. :)
Tegel is a nightmare. It was designed for maybe half the capacity it currently serves. Hopefully opening the BER airport will relieve some of that pressure. That they can handle such a high volume at all is remarkable. Do avoid Tegel if you can help it though.
In the other cities I've lived in, this article rings very true: you stop at crosswalks even when no cars are coming. Most people's houses are kept in immaculate order. (Exceptions of course exist.) "Deutcher pünklich heißt fünf Minuten früh sein" ("German punctuality means being five minutes early." — paraphrase of something I heard from a German friend of mine one time.)
City transit is remarkably accessible: I used to visit unfamiliar parts of cities and small towns occasionally armed with a map—an never with a phone with GPS. I never got lost. Transit maps and signage are clear and easy to understand.
I've visited Germany twice now since my two-year stay there. Each time I explore more—it's easy because of how much order there is in the transit to latch onto.
spent a little more than two in Berlin last year. I didn't find Germany particularly orderly
Berlin is a sort of internal exile colony for those who reject or are rejected by the German lifestyle but don’t for whatever reason want to leave Germany
The reason they don't want to leave Germany is Berlin is only place they can find people like themselves.
There is a reason Berlin is famous for leaving work at 6 pm on a Friday, going to a club, and exiting only at 4am next Monday to go back to work.
Not saying this is good/healthy thing, but Berlin has history of being the hotspot for misfits. That is why a lot of Germans or even Europeans move here.
That's what I hear. Maybe that's why there are so many startups in Berlin? I hear you can live in Berlin without speaking any German. There's quite an international community there.
Problem is, Berlin isn't where the money is -- Munich is. So startups get started in Berlin and get funded in Munich?
I work at a large public University where they're furloughing staff and cutting pay. The ones not furloughed will see a cut in pay between 5-10% depending on salary.
It’s not some poor HR person. The HR person loves to fire people, for lots of different reasons. Here are just three reasons.
1. The HR person craves drama. They live for it. It’s the reason they are an HR person. Firing people is drama.
2. Firing people gives the the HR person a sense of power over others and sense of being important. They are really just doing the bidding of someone higher up, but that is why it makes them feel important because they are “in the know” when most others are not.
3. It gives them a feeling of being in control and immune to being fired since they often manipulate and control the outcomes.
If someone wanted to help people then they wouldn’t have chosen HR as a profession. HR isn’t there to help the employees. They are there to help and protect the company.
The virus had continued spreading in the southern hemisphere despite the summer season. What makes you think it will disappear in the northern hemisphere?
I don't know much about southern hemisphere's current SARS-CoV2 cases, but people everywhere are Vitamin-D deficient. Some recent research found that the old vitamin D recommendations were a fraction of what people actually need for optimal health [0]. Cities are particularly good at creating deficient populations.
Human skin normally synthesizes vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet light. People with darker skin need more sunlight to produce adequate vitamin D, which is presumably one of the main reasons why the super-virus' victims disproportionately have darker skin [1].
[1] COVID-19 ’ICU’ risk – 20-fold greater in the Vitamin D Deficient. BAME, African Americans, the Older, Institutionalised and Obese, are at greatest risk. Sun and ‘D’-supplementation – Game-changers? Research urgently required - https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1548/rr-6
The vast majority of cases in Australia were people who contracted it abroad, or from a close contact who contracted it abroad.
There's been relatively little community spread in Australia, even as we've progressed into the cooler autumn months.
We've been in lockdown since mid March, but given that we now know the virus was quite prevalent in China even in December, and Australia only restricted travel from China in late January, it would have spread much more rapidly if it was going to.
Other examples are Thailand and India, which have both had relatively little spread. Brazil may be a counter-example; it has had had a fairly severe outbreak even with fairly warm weather.
So, I don't believe warm weather wipes out the virus altogether, but it does seem to significantly reduce spread.
