London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

How Germany's Bureaucracy Clogs Public Response to Coronavirus

A public debate is focusing on the merits of a law that places responsibility for public health decisions to states.

WHEN A PLANE arrived in the German city of Hamburg from Milan in late February, some of the passengers onboard were wearing medical face masks because the potentially deadly novel coronavirus had already started to spread in northern Italy. Airport authorities in Hamburg said they wanted to check on the health of those disembarking and ask them about their travel plans.

Obtaining detailed information from people coming from coronavirus danger zones had previously been suggested by the Federal Ministry of Health in Berlin. But the passengers from Milan simply disembarked and left.

Why? Because there was no legal requirement for passengers to fill in forms about their health, an airport doctor explained. It's the responsibility of the Hamburg health authorities, not Berlin, another spokesperson said.

The episode illustrates how countries' bureaucracies can facilitate or impede a rapid response to a public health emergency. Granting greater authority to Germany's federal government to coordinate a response to public health emergencies is now a subject of urgent public debate as the virus surges across Europe. Germany has more than 1,600 cases and three deaths, but at a March 11 news conference Chancellor Angela Merkel said that up to 70% of Germans may eventually become infected with the virus that can cause the COVID-19 diseas

Other European countries are taking aggressive steps to lessen the impact of the virus. The Italian government has placed the whole country on lockdown and Austria will shutter universities and other educational institutions next week. It is also considering closing schools and kindergartens and has closed its border with Italy. Austria also forbade any indoor events that draw more than 100 people, while the French government is ruling out events with more than a 1,000 attendees.

This week, Merkel and her federal health minister, Jens Spahn, said banning large events is a good idea, but the federal government did not institute an official ban. They couldn't: A special German law, the Protection against Infection Act, regulates responsibilities in a health crisis and stipulates that decisions are up to state-based health authorities, not the central government. The German government's thinking behind the law is that health departments in Germany's 16 states understand their communities best. The federal health minister and other senior politicians may only offer advice and coordinate their efforts.

The system has its benefits, says Kordula Schulz-Asche, the Greens political political party spokesperson for social policies, including health care. Medical experts at the Robert Koch Institute, the federal agency responsible for disease control and prevention, are supposed to give politicians advice, Schulz-Asche says. "The federal structure is one of the country's strengths because it means that there are more resources available."

But that structure is also proving confusing, as the incident at Hamburg airport demonstrates. It also means decisions may depend on individual politicians' opinions. "Above all, I advise everyone to keep a cool head and not to over-exaggerate," Berlin's interior minister, Andreas Geisel, told journalists this week after criticizing Spahn. "We've all had the flu before."

Spahn and others, meanwhile, have said that, after this crisis is over, they want to reconsider the Protection Against Infection Act and potentially increase the central government's powers when it comes to confronting a public health emergency.

"Federalism is no help here," German politician Karl Lauterbach, also a professor of the health economics, said on German television. "States, the federal government and municipalities must come together and – in my opinion – must agree on one, single set of rules. The way it's going now won't suffice … when the number of cases rises."

In a statement, the Federal Association of Physicians of German Public Health Departments said, "in the current situation, it is cooperation that should be of the highest priority, not looking for somebody to blame."

For now though, the confusion continues. After Spahn's recommendation, the states of Bavaria, Bremen and Thuringia halted events with more than 1,000 participants because, as one local politician noted, attending a soccer game is now a life or death decision. Bavaria also forbade operas, theater and concerts. Other German states are considering similar moves.

Until Wednesday morning, some larger cultural events in Berlin had been cancelled but other events, such as a major soccer game this weekend that would likely draw 22,000 spectators, was still going ahead. It was only after a heated debate between state politicians mid-week that it was decided the game should be played without spectators and that Berlin should join other states in cancelling larger events. Meanwhile, in the city of Mannheim, a classical music concert came in for criticism because it went ahead with 999 attending, just under the 1,000-person limit.

In some states, schools are closed and students quarantined. In others, it's business as usual. And because the federal government hasn't forbidden travel, some organizations are still going ahead with planned meetings and workshops; the lack of travel warnings or bans by the central government means costs may not be refunded.

The country's problem with bureaucracy goes beyond differences in federal and regional decision-making. In January this year, the German physicians' union, the Marburger Bund, reported that most doctors have to spend three hours or more a day on paperwork.

"The immense load of bureaucracy in German hospitals still exists, even under current conditions," says a spokesperson for the German Hospitals Federation, the DKG. "It is very problematic. We would like to see this change but as far as we know no significant measures have been introduced."

What the outbreak of the coronavirus has changed in Germany is the federal government's suspension of the rules governing the minimum number of personnel working in the hospital at any one time. This allows hospitals to be more flexible with their rosters and do away with the related paperwork, says the DKG spokesperson. "But," the spokesperson adds, "that's just a small part of the total bureaucracy in a hospital."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
×