Workers return in Denmark and Germany, but it's not business as usual

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European governments are moving to the next phase in fighting this pandemic. But as one Swedish epidemiologist put it to me this week, they may still be in the early stages of a marathon.

There is no vaccine. Herd immunity looks an increasingly distant prospect. And so what's left? Let it spread, as Sweden has to some extent. Or protect as many people as possible until science finds a solution, while working out ways for the economy to keep running and society to function in some form?

Some experts see 18 months of varying disruption ahead. With the risk of further waves of infection a very real possibility.

So, as schools and businesses begin to reopen in nations with governments that believe they can, or must, now do so, it is by no means business as usual. They may just be in the very earliest stages of adjusting to a new normal.

A shopkeeper In a clothes store in Essen, Germany wears gloves and a protective mask after small shops in the country were allowed to reopen on Monday. /AP

In Denmark, certain types of professions and businesses are returning to work first: physiotherapists, dentists, hairdressers. People, in other words, whose livelihoods depend on being present. You cannot perform a haircut using Zoom.

Others can begin, or continue to get used to, a more flexible workflow. Will more people work from home when they can and avoid peak commuting hours whenever heading into the office is unavoidable? Could rush hours become a thing of the past? Amid the trauma of these strange times, perhaps some of these changing habits may come, one day, to be seen as a silver lining.

In Germany, it's also size that matters. Shops covering 800 square meters or less are being allowed to reopen from this week. In Bavaria, which has had the most stringent lockdown measures nationally, officials claim 80 percent of businesses will be back up and running before too long. Just like their Scandinavian counterparts – schools are also being reopened.

The virus may not go away – unless a miracle happens, which is a possibility. Neither can lockdowns continue indefinitely, though.

So a new normal is likely to emerge in some parts of Europe in the coming weeks. No one's quite sure what it will look like. But a realization is gradually dawning that life will be different going forward from the pre-coronavirus era. And with some habits, perhaps those changes could even be permanent.