I have been asked to provide a critical analysis of my own paper and have a conversation with myself on what I find interesting in the writing and why? Please see my paper below and provide some analysis.

In times of uncertainty, often people will look to individuals in power for guidance. In the case of COVID-19, the whole world was looking for answers. I had a very unique opportunity to experience the pandemic from Germany while hearing from family how the pandemic was being handled in the United States. While the Germany government immediately began to shut down operations and go into quarantine, America did not react as quickly. The leaders in the United States should have closed sooner and handled COVID-19 more effectively.

Herr Reiner Weis is a German who works on base with the military members at Spangdahlem Air Force Base. He has worked on base for 35 years. His experience during COVID-19 was similar to other Germans. He recalled in March, most places in Germany closed down. The only businesses allowed by the government to continue to stay open were grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations. Besides that, it was only essential worker i.e. hospitals, police and fire departments. When asked how the government was able to get people to comply with the rules Herr Weis explained that the government made a statement that any person who did not respect social distancing or allowed more than two households at a time in a home, would be fined. One example of this came from a neighbor of his. They had thrown a party, despite social distancing, and were reported by their neighbors. The polizei showed up and issued fines to every guest in the house. The host of the party was fined almost €1,500. Actions like this prevent people from ignoring the government's guidance.

While many people in America struggled with the lockdown for financial reasons, the German government continued to pay their citizens more 60% of their normal wages depending on how their hours were affected. This short term aid package was designed to prevent businesses from firing their employs or going out of business. Special tax breaks were awarded to small and medium businesses. If a German citizen had their hours cut in half, the government had provided almost 77% of their wage in aid (DW.com). When asked if he knew anyone who had received this aid, he quickly responded "oh of course, yes many people." Herr Weis, as a 66 year old man, did not feel comfortable leaving his house and risking exposure to the illness. Having consequences for not respecting rules regarding COVID-19 and providing financial aid to those whose work was affected by the pandemic provided people with a sense of comfort and safety. The same cannot be said, however, for the United States.

To get a sense of how things are being handled in America, I interviewed Rosemary Fisher. Fisher is the director and manager of "A Creative Beginning Daycare" in Fallbrook, California. In California, some restaurants and businesses closed for a short time, but quickly reopened. Many of the children in Fisher's daycare had parents who worked at fast food restaurants and stores that never closed. When asked how that affected her daycare, Fisher explained that it made it very difficult to practice safe distancing when dealing with children. The children's ages in the daycare range from 2 months to 5 years. Infants need to be held and fed making it impossible to physically distance themselves. In an effort to reduce how many kids were in the same area at the same time, Fisher split up her classrooms so they could rotate between their times on the playground. The daycare would take the children's temperature every morning before accepting them into the classrooms and ask parents if they were experiencing any symptoms.

While businesses continued to operate and did not shut down for quarantine, they not only affected their own employees but their families as well. For example, a McDonald's worker is exposed to customers and required to handle their cash. They then go home and expose their families to the possibility of being infected. This parents often times have no other option but to send their kids to daycare where they are risking more exposure to their kids and the kids they come in contact with. Fisher says this was a major concern for her and the staff. While they would have preferred to be able to close during quarantine and keep their staff safe, the families in the community had nowhere else to turn. "When you have parents coming to your office crying because they have no option for child care and risk being fired if they do not show up for work, you have to do what you can", says Fisher.

As of 20 July 2020, Germany has had 202,572 total cases and America has had 3,833,271 total cases (worldometer.info). While some may argue that America has so many more cases of COVID-19 because they have a much larger population, that is not the case. Relative to population, America has almost 6 times more cases per one million people than Germany. Daily cases in Germany spiked in the middle of March when the lockdown started with 7,000 new cases in a day. According to worldometer.info since mid-April, Germany has had an average of 500 new cases of COVID daily. Since reopening restaurants and stores in May, daily COVID cases in Germany have continued to drop with a low of 285 cases on June 11^th. Active cases have dropped from 72,865 on April 6 to 5,882 on July 18^th.

However, in mid-March, America had 4,600 new cases in a day. On July 17^th, America reported 74,987 new cases in a day. If we compare the two days that each country had the highest number of new cases in a single day, .00827% of Germany's population tested positive for COVID on March 27^th. On July 17^th, America had the highest number of new daily cases with .02264% of America's population. On July 19^th America has 1,952,253 active cases. Germany has proven that even by reopening businesses, they have done so safely and continued to flatten the curve.

I felt it very important to interview people from the different locations. I noticed while speaking with Reiner Weis, he sounded much more optimistic. When asked how the two countries are handling the pandemic, he said "we all maybe are trying what we think is best". He has trust in the system and his government to do what is best. He trusts that not only are there rules in place to protect him but also that the people around him will follow the rules.

Nation's responses to the pandemic have varied greatly. While some chose to act quickly, other's struggled to find a course of action that balanced their populations concerns. Although this is a difficult decision to make, America simply did not respond to the virus quick enough. The nation was not prepared enough, or able, to supply their citizens with the kind of financial or medical resources needed to face the pandemic together which ultimately led to their spike in cases over the last few months.

pur-new-sol

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