1. As of Friday at midnight.....all flights from Europe to the US are shut-down for 30 days. It's a massive deal. Getting around this? You could rig up a Frankfurt to Mexico City flight, or some Frankfurt to Montreal flight. Being stuck in Europe? Well....this is the biggest problem. If you just arrived ten days ago and were supposed to fly back on Sunday.....you are royally screwed. I should add here....the UK is NOT considered part of Europe, and thus avoided the ban. Germans probably won't be amused by this, but that's the reality of the virus, politics, and circumstances.
2. The infected numbers for Germany? The government's count is 1,296 as of late yesterday. Death count? Two. There are still a number of people on the intensive care list. NRW is still the state of Germany with the highest number of infections.
3. A school in the Worms area (4,500 students) is on a two-week lock-down, because of an infection.
4. Italy went to a massive shutdown situation. Other than pharmacies and grocery operations....all public businesses structures are supposed to be closed. Oddly, public transport remains up and operational. Bars and cafes? They are supposed to be 'closed'. A lot of evidence exists that they are open in a hidden sort of way.
5. The first member of the Bundestag is said to be infected (FDP member). So far, they haven't cancelled their sessions, but I would take a wild guess that within the next four weeks....they will cease public sessions for a period of a month or two.
6. There is a report over at ARD (public TV) today that suggests 'warnings' are being given that certain segments of the German economy are going to feel pressures because of imports from China ceasing. The car industry is a bit worried because some parts for new cars.....are currently manufactured in China. The medical supply system is suggesting that by mid-summer.....serious issues will start to appear. Oddly enough, the blood donor program is suffering a good bit at present, and some attention is focused upon this issue.
7. Doctor rules are now appearing where you have to call ahead of time, and get a reservation. The old practice of you walking in and getting seen at the last minute? That's out. ARD reported that some doctors are clamping down on virus tests, insisting that you have to show symptoms before they waste the time and effort of the test.
8. The 116117 hot-line that you can call for information? They are saying that they get in the 80,000 call range each day now.
9. Why Germany and the UK seem to be at a lesser stage than Italy, France and Spain on the death count? This isn't really explained. Italy stands at 631, France at 33, and Spain at 36. But Germany stands at 2, and the UK at 6. So it begs questions.
Maybe there is a different hygiene situation in play....maybe it's genetic in some weird way, or perhaps it's the rate of smokers to non-smokers.
Back five years ago....it was figured that one-quarter of all Germans smoke....the Brit number was around 15-percent.
Or is it the Brit/German alcohol consumption situation and the booze is killing off the virus? Unknown.
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