Germany to reopen all shops and schools in May

[DFW]

4. Not in my town!

There is plenty of traffic. Not wall to wall people traffic like before, but people are definitely out and about, and the farmers market that is three times a week in the center of our town (like it has been for the last 800 years) still does good business. The mobile bread bakery is always sold out by noon (nothing like getting fresh bread hot out of the oven three times a week!), and our favorite fish stand is often sold out of the kind of fish we prefer if we get there too late. There is a well-organized system of boats coming in from the North Atlantic to Hamburg, processing the fish, wholesaling it, and getting it distributed around the country by 4 or 5 AM, when the local merchants get to buy it from the wholesalers and prepare it for the farmers markets, which open sometime between 7:30 and 8 in the morning. Because of cholesterol issues, I almost never eat red meat, so access to fresh fish is important to us.

The places that are really hurting are places like the travel agencies, and stores that sell travel accessories. Hotels and restaurants, too, although the lower echelon restaurants, which always offered take-out, are still doing fine. No one can go anywhere. I called over to Washington today to ask if my wife (a German citizen) could come with me on our yearly vacation to Cape Cod. They said so far, no, but that could change. American hotels and restaurants need customers, too, after all.

I heard from friends in Sprout City and Paris that shops are still pretty empty down there, and though shops are starting to open, walk-in traffic is very slow. Of course, Sprout City and Paris depend heavily on tourist traffic and conventions, and for the moment, there isn't any. I spoke to a colleague in Zürich earlier today, and he said that unless you have papers proving that you work in Switzerland or have permanent residence there, your chances of being let in are almost zero. I checked the Swiss Air Lines website, and they said don't even bother booking if you live in a country designated by the Swiss as a dangerous area. Guess which countries those are? According to the Swiss government, "all countries except Switzerland and Liechtenstein." The Swiss were always a little wary of "other" places.