The amended ‘Corona Control Ordinance’ will remain in place until a review is carried out on 14 March.
Here is an overview of shops and service providers allowed to reopen from Monday.
Foot care: with safe distance and obligatory mask wearing is now possible by appointment.
Zoos and botanical gardens are allowed to open their outdoor facilities. Indoor areas remain closed. Visitors must book tickets in advance. The distance and mask requirements continue to apply.
Flower shops/nurseries and garden centers/hardware stores - but only those with outside space, plus purchases are limited to gardening materials such as plants, garden tools or fertilizers.
Driving schools can once again offer one-to-one lessons if driving instructors and students wear a medical mask.
Music schools one-to-one tuition is possible, again subject to thedistance requirements. Singing and playing wind instruments are still prohibited.
Libraries and public archives are open for individual visitors with an appointment.
If an appointment has been made in advance, shops are also allowed to let individual customers into their premises, for example to try on clothes. With “appointment shopping”, however, only one household is allowed to enter the shop at a given time.
Hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs are to remain closed. Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) has stated that she expects to discuss a “prospective plan” for opening at the next summit between the state ministers and the Chancellor on March 3.
With secondary schools heading back to the A & B streams in just over a week (daycare/creche centers have begun gradual reopening), the next port of call will focus on prospects for retail and culture.
Discussions are being held on the subject of outdoor dining, terraces and the opening of hotels and holiday apartments.
Dreyer spoke in the “Bild am Sonntag” in favor of allowing restaurants, museums and shops to open in spring and summer if they carried out quick tests (PCR) on customers. “With quick tests, a private organizer or host, regardless of whether they run a restaurant, a shop or a museum, can ensure that their customers are hardly at risk of infection and thus operate their business again,” says Dreyer.
These conditions are dependent on strict requirements and that there is no further spike in confirmed cases. Though it is not the complete relaxation that many are hoping for, it is a positive step as the pandemic finally shows signs of abating.
Dwindling case numbers and an increased percentage of vaccinations across the region point toward a positive trend. Time will tell if the public can adhere to containment measures and indeed if proprietors can survive with such restrictions in place.
