COVID-19 in Germany: Learning to Dance with the Virus

Germany’s fairly successful management of the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic proceeded through three phases of government response: ranging from being caught off-guard, decisive action and a comparatively mild lock-down, to finding a path to a “new normal” of managing the disease. An elite consensus regarding the severity of the threat to public health and the necessity for counter-measures was supported by a large majority. Although noisy opposition emerged on the fringes, so far political polarisation over the pandemic remained limited.