© REUTERS / Leonhard Foeger
Sebastian Kurz wears a protective face mask as he attends a session in the Parliament.
Several countries in Europe have announced plans to reopen at least parts of their economy and society.
Sweden remains open and has kept its borders open as well as its preschools, grade schools, bars, restaurants, parks, and shops.
Norway is
planning to open kindergarten next week.
The Danish Prime Minister announced that she expects to
open day care and schools up to 5th grade on April 15th.
And Austria is planning to lift its coronavirus lockdown while requiring citizens to wear face masks.
Comment: Merkel too has
expressed "cautious hope" at signs of Germany's curve "flattening out" - Germany could start easing restrictions next week. Global carmakers also plan to
reopen their plants, promising increased worker safety. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Moscow is
tightening control over people's movement, planning to implement a "pass system" for traveling to work, and "if necessary", even movements within districts. Residents will have to apply for these travel passes. Local authorities in two Indian towns are resorting to measures previously adopted by some Chinese authorities: physically
locking people in their homes for "breaching quarantine". They must call delivery services to receive essential items.
Hungary's PM Orban
says the "real test is yet to come" for his country, despite signs of the crisis "peaking" in other countries. UK PM Johnson has reportedly been moved out of
intensive care and will be closely monitored. Gaza Strip has reportedly run out of test kits, and Hamas fears a health sector collapse, saying they will not hesitate to impose a curfew if necessary. According to some medical sources in
Ecuador, more than 40 medical workers have died in recent weeks, but such data "has been kept hidden from the public eye." It's hard to say at this point how much is hysteria and disruption of normal operating procedures, and how much is do to a real overloading of the system, as happened in northern Italy.
After the USS
Theodore Roosevelt "scandal", Air Force General John Hyten unintentionally
said something extremely true:
We have too many ships at sea, we have too many deployed capabilities. There's 5,000 sailors on a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. To think it will never happen again is not a good way to plan.
You can say that again. Yankee, go home.
Here's Dr. Fauci back in January. Wonder what changed his mind?
And yesterday, Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the Covid-19 death toll will be "much lower" than models have suggested. Hmm... When the overall impact of the virus turns out to have been much lower than people's expectations, they will be able to say, "See, all our measures were effective!" But will they have been? Or did the virus just run its course fairly naturally?
Comment: See also: