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It is not possible. The number of active cases peaked 2 weeks ago and is dropping ever since. What do you suggest? Keep everything closed for a minimum of 18 months? What do we do if we never find a vaccine? It is absolutely the right move to open up carefully once your healthcare system has enough capacity.

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Well, we could have at least waited until masks are widely available and we have a contact tracing system that is able to trace all contacts of contacts of those infected each day. At 1000 infected per day in Germany, this would be 100.000 to 400.000 contacts traced by day.

And of course, we should have kept up the social distancing.

Masks are widely available! There isn't a single person without mask in the supermarkets. Not one. Social distancing is widely observed. I don't know where you get your information from but my experience is very different.

What region are you referencing with your anecdote? Where I live, mask usage isn't even close to 50% unless the store requires it, and that's including bandit scarves, masks not covering noses, homemade masks of dubious quality, ad infinitum. Social distancing is not well observed at the grocery store when I have to shop.

NRW. I believe that there are differences though.

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