A new poll suggests turbulence ahead for airlines seeking public support for their current COVID-19 plans. Seventy-two percent of Canadians surveyed say they’re not comfortable flying since decisions by several airlines to relax their own in-flight physical-distancing requirements.

Eighty-five percent of those surveyed also suggested that they’re not getting on planes any time soon, telling pollsters they have no plans to travel outside the country by the end of the year.

The Leger/Association of Canadian Studies survey polled 1,517 Canadians from July 3 to 5 and can’t be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random.

The results also suggest Canadians are largely unhappy with another element of the industry’s COVID-19 approach: a refusal to give refunds for flights cancelled due to the pandemic. Seventy-two percent of those polled say they strongly oppose the decision by the federal government not to force airlines to cut cheques.

Masks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has weighed into the country’s debate over wearing masks in public, after some governors suggested ending the requirement. Merkel’s spokesman told reporters in Berlin on Monday that “the chancellor and the whole German government has a very clear stance on this,” saying that masks are an “indispensable means” of keeping infections low.

A government spokesman said, the wearing of simple masks, which have been shown to reduce virus-carrying droplets exhaled by the wearer, is part of the trade-off for being able to travel freely again. “Whether on the bus, in the subway or in stores, the requirement to wear masks should remain.” He said.

Meanwhile the White House continued to reject calls for a national mask-wearing mandate. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Monday morning that the president sees the issue as a “state-to-state” matter.

He said, “certainly a national mandate is not in order” and that “we’re allowing our local governors and our local mayors to weigh in on that.”

New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has said he’d like to see a national strategy on the coronavirus, including a mask requirement. He says his state is seeing “small spikes in reinfection” from residents coming back from Florida, South Carolina and other virus hotspots, and the US is “as strong as our weakest link right now.”

In Dubai, children 6 years old and above must wear masks at school, while children of all ages will undergo temperature checks at school gates, cannot participate in festivals, concerts or field trips and must be spaced 1.5 metres apart in classrooms, according to new guidelines issued by Dubai for private schools when they reopen.

Teachers, who must also wear some form of masks, are encouraged to use clear face shields that show their facial expressions, but meetings with parents should be held online.

Only one parent, wearing a mandatory mask, is allowed to drop off and pick up their children with staggered timings to avoid crowding. Students’ bags and shoes must be sprayed with sanitizer when arriving at school, while common areas and shared computers must be sanitized throughout the day.

European Travel

Greece’s government has announced that direct flights from the United Kingdom to all airports in Greece can resume on July 15. The decision was made “in co-operation with the British government and after the recommendation of experts.” Greece had previously banned all flights from Britain due to the extent of the coronavirus spread there.

Britons are among the top tourist visitors to Greece, and the country is eager to ensure it can salvage whatever it can from this year’s summer tourism season. The sector accounts for around 20% of Greece’s economy.

Direct flights from Sweden have also been banned until at least July 15. Greece is still “watching the epidemiological data” from Sweden, and would make announcements depending on how the situation there evolves.

Let’s play ball!

The Blue Jays appear set to resume training camp at Toronto’s Rogers Centre after arriving in the Ontario capital on Sunday night from the team’s spring-training home of Dunedin, Fla. Canada’s lone Major League Baseball team received special permission from government and health authorities last week to train at the downtown stadium.

Players and team staff will isolate from the general public in a closed environment at Rogers Centre and the hotel attached to the venue.

The Blue Jays have yet to release specifics on when training sessions will begin at the dome, which was not open to media on Monday. Reports say a 60-game regular-season schedule, set to begin July 23 or 24, will be unveiled Monday evening.

Most teams are expected to play in their home stadiums, but the Blue Jays face an additional hurdle because of border and quarantine rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team has said it hopes to play home games in Toronto.

No bull!

Residents in Spain’s northern Pamplona are dressing up in white clothes and donning a traditional red scarf in a nostalgic move to mark that their annual San Fermin festival has been cancelled this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Known for the races with bulls running along cobbled streets, the festival was popularized by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises” and was last called off during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.

With more than 28,000 deaths for the novel virus and an economy in the doldrums following a strict nationwide lockdown, local authorities say there is little to celebrate.

Some 400 people gathered at noon on Monday at a central square where in normal times more than 12,000 would witness the launch of a rocket known as “Chupinazo” to open the nine-day festival, bathing each other with red wine and champagne.

Instead of the rocket, a large sign from the city hall’s facade displayed the slogan #WeWillExperienceThem, which is meant to invite locals and the hundreds of thousands of visitors that Pamplona usually hosts to come back for next year’s celebrations.

Art and culture

The British government has announced a big pot of money to help the country’s renowned arts and cultural institutions recover from the coronavirus pandemic, after some theatres and music venues warned that without support they might never open again.

The £1.57 billion ($2.65 billion) package for museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, heritage sites and music venues includes almost £900 million ($1.5 billion) in grants and more than £200 ($338) million in loans.

Details of how the money will be distributed have not been released, but leaders of arts organizations breathed a sigh of relief. Tamara Roja, artistic director of the English National Ballet, said “this package gives our sector a fighting chance of survival.”

Some UK arts institutions are starting to open their doors after more than three months of lockdown, starting with the National Gallery in London, which reopens Wednesday.

But theatres and concert venues have not been told when they can admit audiences, and several have already announced they will close permanently.