The WHO recommended that citizens in countries struggling with outbreaks should use digital payments when possible to reduce the risk of being infected by money. However, losing economic and social freedom is a greater threat than the risk of the virus.
San Francisco will require retailers to accept cash as payment, joining Philadelphia and New Jersey in banning a growing cashless system that discriminates against low-income people who may not have access to credit cards.
Sweden’s central bankers want to reverse their policy of a cashless society and have proposed making it mandatory for all banks and financial institutions to offer cash services so that it does not disappear as a form of payment.
The card companies are offering thousands of dollars in upgrades on card technology but, in exchange, merchants must stop accepting cash. So far, merchants do not want to risk losing business and are not receptive to the scheme.