Today (well, yesterday really) Germany announces their plan to return to normal:
Chancellor Angela Merkel is moving forward with plans to slowly start returning Germany to normal, allowing some smaller shops to reopen next week and children to begin returning to school in early May.
Most of the restrictive measures will remain in place at least through May 3 and many aspects of public life will be limited for weeks and months to come. Restaurants, gyms, and bars will stay closed indefinitely and no large events such as soccer matches, concerts and festivals will be allowed before the end of August at the earliest.
Germany will need to ease restrictions in “small steps,” Merkel said in Berlin on Wednesday after consulting with the country’s 16 state leaders. “We have made some progress. But I do have to stress that this progress is fragile,” she added. “This is a situation in which caution is the order of the day and not foolhardiness.”
Germany’s latest virus figures appeared to justify that approach. The number of new cases climbed for the first time in a week, while the daily death toll increased, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The counts as they stand today:
Currently the new normal seems to be opening hair dressers and smaller stores... then opening schools again. So we'll see just how much really opens up here. I know they are stating that there will be no large gatherings in the US for the rest of the year. Now we have concerns about our planned Christmas Market Trip... it may be a historical trip instead. Sigh. Best laid plans of mice and men, eh? I guess I can find out if we can transfer those flights to different times as they are military purchased flights...
Our trip to Vegas in August may be a very interesting one if they have not opened much and have no large gatherings authorized there... we may just be flying in, looking around and leaving again and heading north to see family instead. Hard to know for sure just what this will look like. I guess it may not be good to have bought tickets early in this instance, eh?
Oh, well, we'll work with what we have as it all moves forward - we still have 7 months until they are supposed to be here and it can all change tomorrow. Here's hoping it all works out and markets are still active and possibly less crowded just because there was a virus and folks are scared off... would make getting around and through them much easier :)
We're all still teleworking however the plans are being drafted to return to work... so it's coming... too soon for some and not soon enough for others... but it's coming :)
