With virus ‘under control’, Germany commences opening up
Germany took its first steps back towards normality on Monday, with smaller shops in a few regions opening up for the very first time in a month after politicians declared the coronavirus “in order”.
From florists to fashion stores, the majority of shops smaller than 800 square metres (8,600 square feet) will be allowed to welcome customers again, in a first wave of relaxations to strict curbs on public life introduced last month.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional state premiers announced the decision to reopen last week, though they have already been careful to cast it as only a cautious first rung on the ladder.
As the first shops will open their doors on Monday, each of Germany’s 16 states is set to lift the restrictions at a slightly different pace.
In some states including the capital Berlin, reopening will need a little longer.
Merkel, who has been praised for her handling of the coronavirus crisis, is hoping to reinvigorate the ailing German economy, which officially entered into recession last week. - ‘Fragile’ -
With 139,897 confirmed cases and 4,294 deaths by Sunday, Germany has been among the countries worst hit by COVID-19, but also one of the quickest to react.
On Friday, the Robert Koch Institute for public health announced that the rate of infection - the number of men and women each ill person contaminates - had dropped below one for the first time, leading Health Minister Jens Spahn to declare the virus “under control”.
Yet Merkel, who was simply herself quarantined for 14 days earlier this month before testing negative for the virus, has warned that Germany’s success remains “fragile”.
“We will not have the ability to get back to our normal lives for a long period,” said her conservative party colleague Armin Laschet, the state premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, the country’s most populous region.
In an interview with Der Spiegel weekly, Laschet warned that some coronavirus restrictions could last until 2021.
A ban on gatherings greater than two persons and a requirement to stand a lot more than 1.5 metres aside from others in public areas areas stay in force.
That means that hairdressers, initially deemed an essential business, cannot open until at least May 4.
Cultural venues, bars, leisure centres and beauty salons will also remain closed for the moment, while large-scale public events such as concerts and football matches have been banned until August 31.
But Germans can anticipate at least some relaxations to the existing shutdown although they have not been welcomed by everyone.
With larger shops struggling to open, the German Trade Association warned Friday of a possible “distortion of competition”.
Yet Economy Minister Peter Altmaier defended the 800-square-metre limit, saying that “the belt can only just be loosened bit by bit”.
- Schools reopening -
Schools may also be partially reopened in the coming weeks, with most states set to welcome back older students from May 4.
Education policy is traditionally decided at state level in Germany, and Bavaria, the spot worst hit by the virus up to now, will keep its schools closed for a supplementary week.
On April 29, regional education ministers are set to provide concrete plans how social distancing can still be enforced in the classroom.
Germany hopes to combine the lifting of restrictions with a more efficient tracing of the spread of COVID-19.
The country hopes to crank up testing - it has already tested around two million people - and aims to create around 50 million protective masks, including 10 million of the bigger efficiency FFP2 standard a week from August.
Though not yet obligatory, Merkel said her government “strongly advises” wearing a mask in public areas.
With an increase of movement of the populace expected as shops reopen, eastern states Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony have made masks obligatory on public transport.
In doing this, they have followed the exemplory case of the eastern city of Jena, which unilaterally enforced the wearing of masks earlier this month.
According to German media, metropolis has already established no new cases in weekly.
