BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s renowned Carnival celebrations are underway but without any of their usual raucous revelry. Parades, street festivals, and other large gatherings have all been cancelled and booze banned due to lockdown restrictions meant to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In Cologne, the western city whose Carnival festivities are perhaps the best known, Mayor Henriette Reker appealed Thursday for residents to stay at home and bide their time until next year’s celebrations. “As a Carnival fanatic, my heart is bleeding today,” she said on Twitter. One of Germany’s first superspreader events stemmed from a Carnival celebration in a town west of Cologne last February.
