In the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic, Germany was Europe’s prime example of an ‘anti-covid’ model. Recently, the country has decided to enforce a one-month shutdown of all bars, restaurants, theaters and fitness centers to cut down on the number of total cases that continue to increase globally. Other European countries are also starting to lockdown, such as France, which starts their lockdown on Friday, Oct. 30.

While these shutdowns will not completely eliminate the virus, they will cause immeasurable economic losses and massive public-health damage. These European countries are ordering people to stay in their homes, which will stop lots of workers from completing their in-person jobs and leaving lots of factory and production jobs paused until the lockdown orders are lifted. According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, she has recently stated that German hospitalizations have doubled in just 10 days. “Within weeks, we will reach the limits of our health system,” Merkel stated. “It is completely clear that we must act, and now, to prevent a national health crisis.” While hospitals are currently being overworked and overrun, it is imperative that these countries lockdown to avoid a health crisis that is currently growing closer.

While governments have mandated masks and social distancing, these new surges in cases have been a direct result of the virus’s insidious nature, as opposed to mistakes in policies. Many individuals have continued to politicize the virus itself, both on the left and the right, and have even resorted to blaming COVID-related deaths on governors and government officials. Blaming the spread of a virus on others is not only ineffective; it also creates divisions within society and takes away from the fact that we need to work together in order to make cases trend in the right direction. People are only responsible for themselves, their safety, and how they can protect their loved ones around them from being just another case number or COVID death.

The idea that these lockdowns will spark compliance within European citizens is farfetched and unlikely. Governments “going with the flow,” as they have been in the past few months, will prove tiresome for those that are on the front lines, and many will demand changes to happen quickly. As we learn more about this virus, we learn more about what to change for the next wave, but many countries have not escaped the first wave as it is. Restaurateurs, hotel workers, retail workers, and other ‘in-person’ workers have already voiced their frustrations for these late lockdowns, and they are not completely unwarranted. As many individuals have already been acting recklessly during the pandemic, people do not want to change their lifestyle to heed to others’ misdoings.

While these targeted lockdowns will be followed by more in the spring, they are already fueling opposition. Financial compensation is already underway in special cases, and it can already be inferred that there will be an uprising from those who are not compensated. These coming weeks will tell what the next moves are regarding the pandemic, and it is anybody’s guess what types of backlash will come from these European countries.