Today corona how should we handle this crisis. Good. Luck. Hello and welcome to this weeks show is a bit different from usual our guests are exclusively colleagues from d. W. Because here too were working under extraordinary new conditions trying to counteract the spread of the corona virus as far as possible and thats why you also see us sitting much further apart than we are accustomed to it is my great pleasure to introduce our guests beginning with Thomas Barrow he is a Political Correspondent here at g. W. And he says we need bold political decisions but this is also a crucial time for personal solidarity im also very glad to welcome Kate Ferguson shes a. Colleague from d. W. Business and she says leaders from the world of business and politics need to be guided by the principle of cooperation and not competition and very glad to have with us as well barbara more she reports for g. W. Sport and she says its not just about professional sports with the closure of the many small sports clubs and important social support in everyday life also breaks a record for many people. So let me begin by asking all of you how you personally are coping what the Biggest Challenges are that youre facing and perhaps also what youre already missing thomas i think something that im particularly missing other south american journalists and also american citizen is probably hugs we very much used to shaking hands to hugging people i mean it was really been a challenge for me to try and keep this distance from other people and be conscious that this is very important that these times on a very personal level i would say that is something that i have im particularly missing. Obviously trying to stay at home as much as i can to try and be much more aware of whats at stake as i said i think this is high time for solidarity and im trying to also make sure thats the case in my personal life also what work wherever i am its not only about being selfish and hoarding things its about really thinking about the other people as well. I have 2 kids at home 9 and 11 years old and since monday were doing homeschooling with them so thats of course a very new situation to as. I think its working ok so far but im also living in a community with elderly people with actually one child that has them immune disease so im also very aware of me being responsible for not infecting anybody else could you just tell me how you explain this to a child. Luckily my kids are old enough to like reflect a bit on the situation and then of course it does help to say look. This neighbor she is older and we really have to take care of her we have to protect ourselves in order to protect her and that makes it much easier if you have a concrete example extreme to explain its. Like tomas i have an awful impulse to hug but ive only realised what ive been denied the opportunity but something that i personally have been really struggling with is my own Risk Assessment so over the past few weeks as this crisis has been growing and weve seen the disaster unfold in other countries ive been questioning all of my own decisions should i have met that person for coffee a few weeks ago should i be taking public transport should be leaving the house at all and its something that i continuously struggling with because youre guided on one level by what leaders are telling you to do but then you have your individual responsibility as well so i 2 trips that i counseled this month but it really took quite a lot of thinking for me to come to that decision thomas i know that youve just returned from latin america what was the situation there and how were people there reacting there a few occasions in south america than the number were seeing here in europe especially in some of the European Countries that are very badly affected by all this so in south america the situation is only just starting but it has meant that political leaders are taking decisions very early so in particular in colombia where i was borders have been already closed people have been told to stay at home which is very difficult for colombians to actually stay at home and particularly those who actually need to go out to work probably havent got that safety net that you have in other parts of the world so it is a very difficult situation to go to supermarkets and they are also empty as and ive been seeing from my own family when they go and buy things thats very difficult for them to get what they want so south america is a bit behind compared to europe and there is a lot of concern that maybe south america will see in a few weeks what europe is seeing right now and thats why you also see political decisions can be critical of them you can support them but there are political decisions trying to minimise the impact of the coronavirus its said that europe and the us did. Use the time after china started to wrestle with corona that they did not use their window of opportunity do you think latin america is doing so and that is the absolute key element there when you look at whats being debated in latin america its exactly that saying we need to be able to act now so not when we have hundreds of cases but we have only a few cases if you see for example the case of outside of ours they close the borders when they had 0 cases because had were not giving this a chance were not going to wait until we have 100 to start making decisions on what you hear from many people in latin america and also in colombia particular is it has to be done before the situation gets very bad you constantly wait for a long time. Even after concerts and trade fairs had long since been cancelled major soccer games for in the bundesliga and also in the Champions League were still being played in front of tens of thousands of fans that is now over what does that mean for football fans in germany including yourself yeah i think this was actually a Crucial Point where many people finally understood that something serious is happening because never before which is like bigger leaks all over the word suddenly shut down and even now the euros been postponed this is obviously a big thing so i think this is more like. An alarm for everybody saying no its no we really have the situation we have to act but of course its difficult for the fans not only that. Teams arent playing that the leagues not playing but also for those being active themselves because also the smaller clubs are shut down and so you cant go to the offense and have to your gym class whatever but you have to be creative and stay at home one thing that i to out there because i am also a sports fan and what i realized when all these events started to get cancelled is that this is above all a challenge that is not only for politicians not only for World Leaders it is something that its absolutely up to us as well to make sure. This doesnt spread any further and when you see that clearly with sports when you have all these events been canceled when youre being told you really have to make your own you have to participate in a way that you reduce the impact of these. Communities so when you when you have events consequence as the it does but also in particular sports which is something very important for many people around the world when it comes to wake up calls were certainly getting one from the stock markets as well they are absolutely setting records as they plummet what do you think is in store for us and whats your personal feeling as you watch these curves just fall and fall and fall well i think if there is one tiny good thing to come of this crisis its the myth of our own invulnerability has been completely exposed both on an individual and on a global level and when it comes the stock market we havent seen as much volatility since the Great Depression but i also think its important to separate whats happening on the stock market with the experience of everyday people is stocks always go up and theyre likely to continue to be volatile for as long as we have this crisis because this is a Public Health issue so its completely unpredictable but i think its very important for governments to act quickly and decisively to shore up peoples peoples lives and make sure their jobs are secure and germany so far has actually done quite a good job of us by implementing some policies so that if a Company Wants to let somebody go because of the coronavirus instead of actually firing them they will keep them on the books but continue to give them some pay and i want to come back to that a little bit later on in the show but 1st of all id like to take a look at how some People Living under lockdown which we dont have yet here in germany but we may eventually how some are proving especially creative and dispelling fear and loneliness. Citing isolation by making Music Together through the days of quarantine they give each other courage as here in rome. Was an italian courts had gives a free open air concert not to a Live Audience but rather live on facebook. And the berlin philharmonic played dario in bar talk to an empty house music lovers were able to live stream the concert into their living rooms. How much do we really need to be together. Thomas we saw in that in the 1st sequence from italy people out there on their balconies and not only there a balcony playing a big role in italy in spain people are apparently doing cygnus on their balconies with a trainer on a rooftop instructing them do you think things like that that we saw things like what we saw in the report are just temporary distractions or do they actually help to build that sense of solidarity that you were talking about i absolutely think that they help to build that sense of solidarity i think in times of crisis around the world you can have the worst out of people but you can also get the best out of people and these examples that were just seeing here how people are being very creative to try and make sure that these very difficult a very bad situation for many people can be at least in a little bit improved in many different ways is something that you also see in other parts of the world by the way is also your all starting to see right here in germany actually something very interesting recent days of people asking to buy vouchers of their favorite. The bacon then we deemed later on when the crisis has been overcome i thought that was a fantastic idea is trying to help your favorite restaurant or your favorite supermarket or a favorite shop they can oversee not sell things now as they would before about the way in which you can help so i definitely think its high time for solidarity great thank you barbara in your Opening Statement you said that the cessation of sporting events would deprive many people of a very important social support that they need in a time like this so is there any substitute for that in the Virtual World and how are sports fans coping yeah i think theres a lot going on now like. With social media theres another way to connect then again virtually this is we have seen that in china already people having challenges through the. Groups who can do more sit ups and groups sitting together or even having a drink together and just virtually being connected and theres actually also a lot on the market like there is a program for bike riders you can actually sit in the basement on your on your on your bike on a fixed bike and. Be virtually connected and actually. At the moment live in writing against other cyclists sitting in that basement and doing the same so i think a lot of these kind of are trying to going to come up now and will hopefully do some substitution kate you said in your Opening Statement that we need to political decisions that are very much based on cooperation. Do you feel like we are seeing that adequately and are people paying attention i have to say i live in quotes back one of the central districts in the city frankly at least until today people there have not really fully been adhering to the new rules just yesterday i saw about 25 young men playing a game of pick up some. Or in a local park very close together definitely not social distancing very sweaty. Do you think people have gotten the message of the ive seen similar scenes you know on the way here for example but what i think is really important for us as journalists to do is to frame social distancing as the ultimate act of solidarity that it is so if one of us here at the table which become infected with social distancing within a month or 244. 00 people but the infected as a result with social distancing we can reduce that to 4 and that message really needs to come across that it is really great that were seeing these examples of Community Spirit thats really heartening but actually the best thing you can do to save lives is just stay away from people of really any time about how i Say Something just to that cancer can you say it in response to additional question id just like to tack on to that namely in regard to the chancellors appeal which is that you got what it was the chancellor gave exactly that message and she gave it in language such as i have never heard her use before very personal very urgent it was the 1st time shes addressed the germination in this form since she has taken power and shes been in power a long time do you think that message is going to be heard will it get through to those people who need to hear at those young men playing soccer in my park melinda that was exactly what i was planning good to talk about that thats teach buying them a cool yesterday that her dress on National Television she normally does those addresses only on new years eve on new years day and this is the very 1st time in 15 years as johns that you have such an address on television and that just gives you an idea of how urgent it is and how important is that decisions are not only made right at the top but the people understand what it is saying kate that this has to be done by all of us and i agree with you totally that im going to merkels message yesterday was very clear it was human it was authoritative it was very clear and i do hope that people here in germany will understand that its time for them to. But its not time for them to keep playing football outdoors or taking their kids to the playground its really time for all of us to understand that this is a very big responsibility that we have and when it comes to those playing in the park we hope that if not im going to machall also the head coach of the National Football germans National Football team has been has had a speech yesterday going to the same direction so maybe those still playing football in the parks would listen to him at least and also one of the routes on the other hand kate we at the same time are seeing shortages of things like toilet paper as people essentially get engaged in hoarding behavior and even more serious stockpiling of very important medical goods including breathing masks and Hand Sanitizer price gouging by some people whove bought up tens of thousands of bottles of Hand Sanitizer what does that tell us about how people are reacting to this crisis and do you think well see more of it as things get worse well as tomas said earlier withing the very best and the very worst of humanity come out of a crisis which is to be expected here in germany we have a wonderful word to describe this sort of panic buying stuff which a colleague of mine is appealing for us to install into the english language like that where you know your reg how history during squirreling things away and yet we have seen a lot of but not address last night im going mcilree did reassure people that supermarkets would be stocked and really a big issue for supply is actually people panic buying the Just Exchange are solid at the moment and those cargo trucks are not being stopped at borders so we dont really need to have to worry about speaking of borders let us dive a little bit deeper into the subject of shortages and the economic effects of this crisis at the beginning of the week germany largely shut down its borders with france denmark luxembourg switzerland and austria officials claim that the movement of goods wont be affected but reality tells a different story. Border checks are once again backing up traffic as here on germanys border to france a microscopic virus is bringing europe to its knees the union is isolating itself. The only ones allowed in are those who work here or need to stock up on necessities like medications. Only trucks are allowed through without checks but traffic is backing up at border crossings like here in kuwait. That in itself may lead to considerable disruption to supply chains. For now we see no cause for worry but everyone should act responsibly and take only what they really need rest assured that everything is being done to guarantee adequate supplies. Yet even before borders were closed supermarket shelves were emptied all across europe as here in britain. And shortages of medicines are expected over the coming weeks. This is the downside of globalization it has many upsides but these are the classic downsides. Can our basic needs be covered. Thomas let me address that question to you can our basic needs become and also in regard to the border closures even the chief of staff of the Commission President of the European Union has said border closures arent going to do a whole lot because the virus is long since here in the individual member countries of the European Union so whats going on with these border closures and will they imperil supply the hope is that it wont imperil supply and there are guidelines already in place to make sure that essential goods like medicine for example a food can indeed reach those who need it the most i do agree that border closures may not have a very big effect but at the same time the goal of all these measures including border controls is to slow down the process of coronavirus. Make sure that youve probably seen that flattening the idea make you judge you spread it as much as possible as well Health Services at a National Level but also at the european level can cope with