Covid-19 Reopening

Bars and restaurants in parts of Germany have gotten a warning from the authorities: anyone who has closed their business for one year without interruption is threatened with the expiry of their restaurant licence. This mainly affects pubs, bars and clubs, many of which have had to close not only since the recent lockdown, but consistently since March 2019.

The city administration of Bad Waldsee stated: "We certainly didn't want to annoy the innkeepers with this information letter, on the contrary, we see the letter as support to prevent the deletion period from taking effect. In order to make this notification as informal as possible, we have deliberately offered a non-bureaucratic phone call or email as feedback in the letter,"

Restaurants, cafés, and other eateries with outdoor seating will be allowed to reopen on March 27 with patrons having to produce mandatory evidence of a negative Covid-19 test result, Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced in a press conference on Monday. The province of Vorarlberg can reopen hospitality venues on March 15 due to a lower case count.

New York will allow large sports stadiums and entertainment arenas to reopen at 10% capacity this month. Patrons will need to produce a negative Covid-19 test result to enter and mandatory masks and social distancing measures must be enforced.

According to a response from the German Federal Ministry of Health to an information request from FDP member of parliament Wieland Schinnenburg, obtained by Tagesspiegel Background, the government appears to be setting the herd immunity target much higher than before. The German government has so far stated 60 percent, two-thirds of the population, occasionally 60 to 70 percent, but now communicated up to 80 percent.

Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg said in an interview with "Wirtschaftswoche": "If there is enough vaccine and everyone can be vaccinated, then private-sector event organizers should also have the option of making vaccination an admission requirement for events." In fact, he said, his company has already programmed its systems so that they can also read vaccination cards.

Although Austria is once again in lockdown, many ski lifts were allowed to open. After a rather quiet start on Christmas Eve and the first holiday, it became more crowded in the ski resorts from the second holiday onwards - too crowded in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, where keeping your distance is the order of the day.

On Sunday, so many people made their way towards the slopes that even some ski resorts pulled the emergency brake and closed down. Already in the morning, the ski resorts at Hauser Kaibling as well as St. Jakob im Walde in Styria closed due to overcrowding, further guests were not allowed to arrive.

The Taj Mahal will reopen on September 21st," mit Srivastava, deputy director of Uttar Pradesh state’s tourism department has announced. Masks, social distancing and other Covid-19 protocols will be required for visitors. Instead of the usual daily 20,000 visitors, only 5,000 will be allowed. Visitors will have to buy tickets only as no physical tickets will be sold.

The prime minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, had visited the Castle Rock School in Coalville, Leicestershire for the reopening and told students that the biggest risk was "continuing to be out of school" and not the Covid-19.

Now a staff member of the school has tested positive for Covid-19 resulting in multiple classes and tutor groups going into self-isolation as "a precautionary measure". The school stated that the safety at the institution is "paramount".

Dehli's metro is resuming again after being suspended for five months due to the Coronavirus lockdown measures. The Indian economy has started to reopen even though the country experiences high daily counts of new infections.

Commuters will have to wear masks, keep a safe distance and have their temperature checked.

Germany's football federation (DFB) announced on Monday that fans can return to some German football stadiums in mid-September for the first round of the German Cup.

The DFB released a statement saying: "The third division, the German Cup and women's matches, the number of spectators... must be decided by each club in agreement with local health
authorities."

Scientists from the Halle University in Germany have held three pop concerts in a single day to investigate the risks posed by mass indoor events during the pandemic. About 1,500 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 50 took part in the experiment "to investigate the conditions under which such events can be carried out despite the pandemic".

The head of the study, Dr Stefan Moritz, which was carried out in Leipzig, stated he was "very satisfied" with how the event unfolded.

A week after reopening schools for in-person classes, the Georgia school district reports that at least 260 students and 8 teachers have contracted Covid-19. Those with a confirmed positive result are now under quarantine for two weeks and everyone who had been in contact with them was urged to self-isolate as well. Infections were reported from elementary, middle as well as high schools.

"We have students and staff reporting presumptive, pending and positive COVID-19 tests every day, and this will continue as we operate schools during a pandemic. We are working with the Department of Public Health to confirm, contact trace, quarantine and then notify the school community," so the district's superintendent, Dr Brian V. Hightower.

Public schools in Chicago will start the coming academic year remote-only, meaning all classes will be held online for all students from September to at least November 9. The situation will be reevaluated then whether a hybrid learning model can be implemented. The decision came just a day after the Chicago Teachers Union prepared for a strike over school safety and the demand for remote learning.

"As a district, we value parent feedback and we cannot overlook that a large percentage of parents have indicated they do not feel comfortable sending their students to school under a hybrid model for the start of the school year," so Janice K. Jackson, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.

On Friday, Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles ordered schools to remain closed for in-person classes until at least October 1. Among those schools affected is Barron Trump's Maryland private school.

"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have based our decisions on science and data. At this point the data does not suggest that in-person instruction is safe for students or teachers," so Gayles in a news release on Friday.

On Monday, Donald J. Trump again called for schools to reopen despite high numbers of Covid-19 infections. "Cases up because of BIG Testing! Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!," Trump tweeted.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a call to reopen schools, two weeks after President Trump called the agency's previous recommendations on the reopening of school's "very tough and expensive."

"Reopening schools creates opportunity to invest in the education, well-being, and future of one of America’s greatest assets — our children — while taking every precaution to protect students, teachers, staff and all their families," so the CDC's statement published on Thursday.

The statement further states that " best available evidence indicates that COVID-19 poses relatively low risks to school-aged children," and lists the benefits of in-person attendance.

The Florida Education Association has filed a lawsuit against the Florida government over its order to reopen schools despite rising number of Covid-19 cases. The order, signed by Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in early June, orders all schools – private and public – to reopen its doors for students starting August. The lawsuit was filed against Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, the Florida Department of Education, Florida State Board of Education and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

"The lawsuit intends to stop the reckless and unsafe reopening of public school campuses as coronavirus infections surge statewide," so the FAE's release.

Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios have partially reopened on Wednesday after almost four months. Other tourists attractions are also being reopened. The top floor of the Eiffel Tower is now open for visitors but is restricted to maximum of 250 people.

Senegal resumed international flights on July 15th. Air traffic had been on hold for almost four months. Travelling passengers have to produce a negative Coronavirus test that's not older than seven days.

Marie Khemesse Ngom Ndiaye, General Director of Public Health: "‘Today, to come to Senegal, we demand strict compliance with border measures, namely the wearing of masks. Everybody wears a mask, you have the physical distance, even at the seats where you rest. We have alcohol-based gels everywhere, even at the ATMs."

During Thursday's White House press briefing, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that "the science should not stand in the way" of reopening schools. President Trump insists on opening schools, "and when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend, each and every day at their school."

McEnany states that the United States is the "outlier" as schools in the Western world and their peer nations are reopening and claims that "science is on our side here".

California is reversing its reopening phase and closes most indoor establishments again as the state sees an average of 9,000 new Covid-19 infections.

Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a statewide closure for bars, indoor dining and other venues. Thirty of the state's hardest hit counties will further have to close all gyms, malls, places of worship and beauty salons.

"We're seeing an increase in the spread of the virus, so that’s why it’s incumbent upon all of us to recognize soberly that Covid-19 is not going away any time soon until there is a vaccine and, or an effective therapy," so Newsom in a news conference.