ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
About two-thirds of Americans think other countries have done a better job handling the coronavirus. That's according to an NPR/Ipsos poll. Germany is one of the countries that has managed well by comparison. It's had a recent uptick in cases but has flattened its curve. And while the country is experiencing an economic slump, its unemployment rate has remained relatively low. Sally Herships checked in with some German expats who live in the U.S. to see what they think about their adopted country's response.
SALLY HERSHIPS, BYLINE: A few days ago, 38-year-old Felix Zeltner and I were chatting on Zoom. He was in a hotel in rural Bavaria.
Is this a regular summer vacation trip home to see family?
It is. And he was just explaining that he, his wife and two kids were quarantining before visiting family when he saw a call come in on his cellphone.
FELIX ZELTNER: I'm so sorry, Sally. I have to take this call because this is the doctor telling me the test results. So...
HERSHIPS: OK.
The results of his coronavirus test. We'll get back to those, but first, a six-hour time difference away in Connecticut, another German, Kathleen de Leon, is feeling frustrated. The pandemic meant she had to cancel her trip home. That means she, her husband and 6-year-old daughter Zoe do not get to see her family. Zoe has lived all her life in the U.S., but she knows Germany well.
So, Mom and Zoe, do you think things are easier, better, different in Germany?
KATHLEEN DE LEON: Yes.
ZOE: Yes.
DE LEON: What makes you think that? What were Klaudia and Louisa and Oma and Opa be able to do that we couldn't do?
ZOE: Go to a hotel.
DE LEON: They went on vacation.
HERSHIPS: De Leon says she's specifically frustrated with the federal government here.
DE LEON: Well, just look at the news. It's a disaster.
HERSHIPS: There's been no consistent messaging and misinformation. And another problem here versus Germany, De Leon says no one is able to talk politics calmly.
DE LEON: I'm in a moms group on Facebook - not to make this political, let's not get political. I mean, politics - like, there isn't a way to discuss politics with different opinions without getting nasty.
HERSHIPS: De Leon has been living in the states for more than a decade. She says she and her husband weren't planning a move to Germany. Zoe is happy here. But now they're talking about it. An hour's drive away, another German, Lars Hierath, says he's not moving. He's head of the German International School in White Plains, N.Y. He agrees with De Leon. People communicate differently here than in Germany.
LARS HIERATH: There seems to be in this country more of an emotional of a political discussion. Whereas at home, there's more agreement on what needs to be done and how things should be tackled.
HERSHIPS: But he says he admires how quickly businesses here have adapted. Hierath sees this in all the offers he gets, like for new remote work apps at the school. He says, of course, the numbers are scary, but what he's hearing locally at least from Gov. Cuomo seems very sensible and smart. And even in the face of a global pandemic, Hierath says America remains optimistic, and he really treasures that.
HIERATH: I find this is a very American attitude. You know, there's a problem. Let's tackle it. Let's do something.
HERSHIPS: Back in Bavaria, Felix Zeltner is at the hotel. He just got his test results. And it's great news.
ZELTNER: Super.
HERSHIPS: He doesn't have COVID, but for the first time, he feels far away from Germany.
ZELTNER: I have friends who don't know anyone who had the virus.
HERSHIPS: Zeltner says that here in the U.S., he knows so many families where people got sick and even died.
ZELTNER: I'm traumatized. Like, I think about it all the time.
HERSHIPS: He says the longer he spends in the U.S., the less he understands it. But he loves his home in New York, and he feels safe there and optimistic.
Are you coming back?
ZELTNER: Oh, for sure. Yes.
HERSHIPS: Right after vacation. For NPR News, I'm Sally Herships.
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