On the surface, yes. But Frau Merkel is essentially a caretaker Chancellor, she will not lead her party into the next election, so there is no point in attacking her, she is on the way out. I expect that this crisis will deeply impact the next election. But I don’t think we can see how yet.
The biggest impact will be in Germany’s overt unwillingness to help Italy and Spain in any meaningful way. The primary cheerleader for Europe led the “every country for themselves” approach and this will be devastating for German credibility regarding Europe unity in the future.
In terms of managing the pandemic, it is far from being superficial. They have been the gold standard in the West.
I agree with you that the every man for himself approach within the EU will have a major impact going forward. Open borders are a liability in a pandemic