Keeps them locked in their cold houses this winter and off the streets protesting.
Germany is losing 200 Covid dead per day right now. Their case peak is a week or so ago so death count should decline. 200 is about 1/2 their levels of this past winter. Their count is rising, but if cases decline, so will deaths.
They are well vaxed and it won’t matter. If they mandate masks that will make zero sense unless they are N95 masks. No one doubts N95 reduces virus density, but nobody, no country, mandated N95 — and that gave rise to all the complaining and criticism. Well founded criticism. If only N95s were mandated, all the studies finding “virus is not stopped by masks” would never have happened.
Italy is in the middle of a summer death surge too. Proportional to Germany with population adjustment. But they look post peak, slightly.
We will know more come fall. The US numbers are quietly ugly. 500 Covid deaths per day (of, not with, that stuff all is in the past) is the current level and that’s up 100-150 from a month or two ago. Definite rise but absolutely not sharp. This is not a Fall / Winter 2021 event, but if such an event unfolds, it will start its rise from a higher-than-2021 level.
Germany imposing restrictions . . . if they grow from this level they will face the problem — do nothing and risk being a murderer, or do something and have to QE the fix to the economic damange.