Imagine that in the Puy-de-Dôme, only the staff in restaurants and bars would be forced to wear a mask. On the other hand, in Corrèze, customers could only take off their masks once they are seated in catering establishments. It would be a joyous mess. And this is what is happening in Switzerland, a small country of 41,000 km2 and 8 million inhabitants, divided into 26 sovereign states, the 26 cantons, each with their own constitution, government, parliament and courts. With the result, faced with the increase in the number of infections, that “Basel-City, Lucerne and Obwalden and Graubünden extend the obligation to wear the mask to all enclosed public places, [alors que] Nidwalden and Thurgau go less far. They focus on public and private events ”, tries to summarize the daily Time from Lausanne.
And what the Council of State (government) of the canton of Geneva decides is not applicable to the neighbors. Even in the city of Nyon, in the canton of Vaud, which is only 26 kilometers from the city of Calvin. While many inhabitants of Nyon come to work in Geneva every morning. Result, Alain Berset, the Minister of Health at the federal level, while declaring in a press conference that “Switzerland is facing a new very negative and very strong dynamic”, was content to declare that to keep the situation under control, “we must seriously apply social distancing and hygiene measures, as well as reduce contact”. In the same vein, Virginie Masserey, the head of the infection control section at the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP), could only ask the population to “mobilize to stop the multiplication of cases ”.
Masks at family gatherings
This does not mean that the Federal Council (the federal government) is totally powerless. He will even very soon announce a drastic strengthening of measures against Covid-19. Like limiting gatherings in public spaces to fifteen people. In private gatherings of more than fifteen people, whether they are family members or friends, a mask should be worn as soon as you are not seated to eat and drink. The government is even studying the possibility of regional reconfigurations. However, the draft ordinance of the Federal Council must first be submitted to the cantons. Indeed, the competence of the measures remains their responsibility. In France, if Emmanuel Macron had had to agree with the presidents of the regions to impose the curfew, we imagine that it would not be close to being applied.
Until now, the Swiss authorities have been able to count on the civic sense of the Swiss, such reasonable citizens. They never had to fill out and sign paper to leave their homes, or limit their walk to one kilometer. During the confinement, the author of the article traveled without problem from Geneva to Bern to attend a session of Parliament. In short, Switzerland is one of the countries where the measures are the least strict. The situation remained under control until recent weeks. The Confederation has recorded “only” 1,823 deaths, the number of people hospitalized being 5,276, and cases of Covid-19 contamination of 74,422.
The only solution, re-containment
But now, everything has been going wrong for a little over two weeks. Five hundred cases daily, then 1,000, then 2,000. The 3,000 mark (exactly 3,105) was exceeded on Friday. The test positivity rate climbed to 14.36%. Over the past two weeks, the country has 229.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. It is urgent not to wait any longer. Will the central government and the 26 cantonal governments succeed, like last March, in playing the same score very quickly? It’s possible.
In The Geneva Tribune, Jérôme Pugin, head of intensive care at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), evokes a wave that will last for months. ” We haven’t gone far enough in restrictive measures yet that would cut a wave of this magnitude. The only thing that would work would be containment. Strict but short confinement would break the peak. If we decide today, we will see the effects in three weeks. If we don’t, too… ”he warns.
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