Monday, September 7, 2020

Germany and Covid-19: 7 September 2020

1.  Covid-19 has drastically affected the profitability of German kinos (theaters).  I was reading across a piece in our regional public TV news (HR), and they discussed this issue.

Presently, while a fair number of kinos have reopened....they all must maintain the 1.5-meter distance between customers.  So if you do the numbers with a 200-seat room....you can run somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 to 100 seats.  Financial profits?  Marginally existing.

So the kino owners are approaching the Hessen govenrment and asking that the 1.5-meter rule be set to just 1-meter.....putting more seats into the mix.

Presently, a number of the smaller run operations....the ones that had just one or two rooms.....maybe 100 seats max for each room....are still non-functioning because there is zero profit with the low number of seats possible. 

Just another indicator of the continual affect on the economy.

2  The warning about the approaching fall flu season?  Well, N-TV talked about this here in the AM, and what they suggest is that flu symptoms will trigger Germans to ask for Covid-19 tests, and increase the pressure on the labs to perform even more tests.  The labs were pushed to the limit during the summer vacation period. 

3.  Up in the state of NRW (NW Germany), the restaurants are 'begging' for state approval to put up outdoor heating devices.  There is this belief that consumers will only feel marginally safe eating indoors.  But if you had contained 'tents' with portable heating devices....more people would use their services.

Chief issue?  Environmentalists have made a big deal about heating outside, and condemn the practice in general.  The state would have to make a stand against them....if they pursue this approval.  Good piece on Focus, telling this story.

4.  German kid kicked out of a school for failing to wear a mask?  Well....yeah.  Focus told this basic story.....from the Hanover region of Germany.  Nine-year-old kid declined to wear the mask at a private school. What is said over this....the kid had a doctor's waiver, and provided it to the school officials.  They basically questioned the waiver.

The private school finally said enough....broke the contract.  The kid?  His mother has now enrolled him in a local public school, with the waiver shown, and they put up no argument whatsoever. 

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