Going Skiing Is a Terrible Idea Right Now
The pandemic has forced governments into making impossible choices. Keeping ski resorts shut isn’t one of them.
Asking for trouble.
Photo: Bloomberg
The Covid pandemic has forced governments to make some impossible choices. Shutting down schools, for example, can help limit contagion but at an enormous cost to a generation of students in terms of lost education and future opportunities. You can understand why politicians try so hard to keep classrooms open. The decision over whether to reopen Europe’s ski slopes this season is, however, not such a dilemma.
Austria is alarmed at the cost of a winter skiing closure, which it estimates at 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion), while some Swiss resorts have already opened. Some regional governors from northern Italy would like to do similar.