德国的疫情应对措施 Hamsterkauf – How is Germany coping with the epidemic outbreak

This post contains two updates:

更新于 Updated 14.3.2020:

我们居住的地区因为蛮靠近法国大埃斯特地区,而这地方的疫情已经进入危险水平,所以也造成我们这里附近的超市出现缺货的现象了。以下图片是我们的朋友在今天去购物时看到的情况。

The region near our town is declared as a danger-zone – Grand Est Region in France. Thus, there is a wave of panic among the people that leads to a crazy “Hamsterkauf” culture. Two days after my previous post, now it starts to get harder to buy groceries.

冰箱里的食品差不多要被清空了。Scarcity of dairy products.
蔬菜水果也被“扫”光了。We cannot even find fruits and vegetables.

更新于 Updated 10.3.2020:

自从大家知道在欧洲也有不少人患上新型冠状病毒后,我便收到不少家人和朋友们的关心信息,谢谢你们。为了让在远方的家人安心,这次我就写关于我居住的这个小城市 – 卡鲁在疫情告急的情况吧。

Since the epidemic outbreak in Europe, there are many concerns and wishes from my beloved families and friends that I am very grateful for. In this post, I will cover the actual situation in a small city called Karlsruhe in Germany.

尽管全世界都报道了关于冠状病毒在欧洲的消息,但在德国,大家的生活方式并没有受到太大影响。当然,大家还是会担心而做出额外的预防措施,以免病毒继续毫无抑制地扩散下去。德国人暂时停止了他们见到人时传统的问候方式 – 拥抱和握手。

Despite the alarming news reported worldwide, the lifestyle in Germany has not been affected that much. Of course, the people here are worried but they take extra measures and precautions to prevent the spread. Also, the Germans start to forgo their tradition to shake hands as a sign of greeting.

在德国也是有抢购、存囤物品的情况的,而且德国人还用了一个词来形容这种行为 – “仓鼠购”。我们也因为一些拥有“仓鼠购”行为的人而造成了某些物品出现短缺,如厕纸、消毒喷液、免洗消毒液、口罩、罐头食品和面粉。

However, there is one main problem in Germany, which is “Hamsterkauf”. Hamsterkauf describes the behaviour of stocking up rations for dire situations. This behaviour leads to shortage of stocks, in particular these items: toilet paper, disinfection gel and spray, face masks, can foods, and flour.

我们是因为家里厕纸就快完了而买一包;别人却不管三七二十一,拿个五包就对了。We were lucky to grab a pack, 10 minutes after this picture was taken, the rack was empty.
纸上写的是:消毒杀菌的货品暂时短缺,我们会尽快补货。The notice states that the disinfection gels and sprays are currently out of stock, they will restock them as soon as possible.

在这里的超市所出现的食品短缺现象其实不是很严重,只要你肯花钱买较贵的产品,那绝对不会出现买不到或存不到干粮。至于目前出现短缺的物品,我个人暂时看到的都是那些正在做优惠或价格较便宜的。总的来说,我们目前的生活并没有因为疫情而受到影响。

Still, the shortage of stocks is not as seriously as you imagine. The truth is, only the low-cost products are out-of-stock. The similar “high-demand” products that has a higher price tag are still available. In short, there is no sign of supply shortage whatsoever and our daily life is not affected.