Political decision-makers in Germany admitted mistakes in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. As the book “Blinde Passagiere” (“Stowaways”” shows, there were already alternatives at the time, which makes it even more topical.
The following text was taken from the website of the publisher Antje Kunstmann and translated into English.
Karl Heinz Roth named the failures of German coronavirus policy back in January 2022 in his book “Blinde Passagiere. Die Corona-Krise und ihre Folgen” (“Stowaways. The Corona Crisis and its Consequences”).
In recent weeks, former representatives of the grand coalition such as Horst Seehofer or Helge Braun and the current Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach have admitted mistakes in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, as reported by Tagesschau. Lauterbach recently said in Der Spiegel: “The biggest mistake was that we were too strict with children in some cases and probably started easing measures a little too late.”
Many of the mistakes that are now being recognized had already been described by Karl Heinz Roth two years ago in his book “Blinde Passagiere. Die Corona-Krise und ihre Folgen” (“Stowaways. The Corona Crisis and its Consequences”) two years ago. In this excellently researched and elegantly written book, he shows how deeply the global pandemic is affecting our societies and people’s everyday lives. The book can easily be used as a fundamental work for critically examining this crisis and preventing future ones. It’s a shame that politicians are coming to this realization so late! But perhaps this self-criticism will help in overcoming the next health crisis – it would be desirable.
“In his analysis of the coronavirus pandemic, Karl Heinz Roth counters the harsh lockdown policy with an urgently needed infection prophylaxis.” Gerhard Hanloser, freitag.de
“A necessary pioneering work. (…) The book is an honorable attempt to initiate a proper health policy discussion on the control of pandemic pathogens.” Matthias Becker, konkret