Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is KCRW Berlin's Program Director, reporter and show host. She is a veteran American journalist with German roots who comes to us from NPR, where she spent 13 years as a correspondent, heading the network’s international bureaus in Kabul, Cairo and more recently, Berlin. She’s won numerous awards for her radio work, including a Peabody and Gracie. She also received the ICFJ 2017 Excellence in International Reporting Award for her coverage of Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Prior to her radio career, Sarhaddi Nelson spent 20 years as a newspaper reporter and was part of the Newsday team that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for covering the crash of TWA Flight 800.
Groups of up to 20 people are allowed to get together under the current pandemic rules, if they acquire a permit beforehand and the participants practice social distancing.
A poll by public broadcaster rbb and the daily Berliner Morgenpost found three out of five Berliners surveyed support making shoppers wear masks.
Zoo officials say visitors must adhere to social distancing rules and purchase tickets online for a specific day and time.
Thousands of stores have reopened in Germany, as state and federal leaders test whether they can loosen restrictions without raising the coronavirus infection rate. In today’s Berlin Report we spoke to scientist Britta Schautz about keeping safe while shopping.
German Health MInister Spahn cautioned against expecting quick results, given it will take months before the vaccine can be fully developed.
A BVG spokeswoman told public broadcaster rbb the transport company doesn’t have the legal right to enforce the wearing of masks.
In announcing the cancellation of this year’s Oktoberfest, Bavarian state premier Markus Söder said the risk was “simply too high.”
The Berlin Senate is also strongly recommending those who go into stores wear masks. Meanwhile, stores of up to 800 square meters, or 8,611 square feet, can reopen today, provided people adhere to strict social distancing requirements.
Berlin Mayor Michael Müller said though day care facilities will stay closed for now, finding a solution for parents with young children is very important to him.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said though the infection rate is slowing, intensive care facilities in Germany could be overwhelmed by summer if the transmission rate surges.
