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The Mythen Forum in Schwyz – This is where the Schwyz corona wave could have originated. screenshot: srf
First the yodel festival, then the call for help: 5 facts about the situation in Schwyz
Schwyz Hospital is reaching its limits with the growing number of Covid patients. How it got here and what measures the canton is taking now.
How is the call for help?
The spread of the coronavirus in the Schwyz region is progressing rapidly. Schwyz Hospital has now asked the population for help with a video to prevent the health system from collapsing.
The corona outbreak in Schwyz is one of the worst in Europe, explains Reto Nüesch, chief physician of internal medicine at Schwyz Hospital, on YouTube. Together with the director of the hospital, he asks the population to wear masks and not celebrate parties. It is important that the population react now.
«The situation in the hospital worsens. We have more and more patients in the hospital who are really bad ”, says Nüesch. “We are doing everything possible to save these people. We are successful in many cases, but sadly not always. “
“It is so important that the population reacts now,” emphasizes Franziska Föllmi, director of Spital Schwyz. Wear masks. Do not attend any festival and only exchange information in a protected way, when possible only in small groups and with the family. If the number of cases continues to rise, Schwyz Hospital will no longer be able to cope with this. “We have to react now.” The proportion of positive tests is currently “dramatic”.
The movie was also shot in the hospital care unit. “The time to react is now,” emphasizes Simon Weibel, Chief of Nursing. “The care rooms are full of patients who have Covid-19.”
>>> Coronavirus: Click here to see the indicator live
What is the capacity of the hospital?
Schwyz Hospital has designed its isolation room for a maximum of 25 people. With the current development, it will still be full today Wednesday, Monday it was still half full, hospital spokeswoman Nirmala Arthen said at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. Patients are being transferred to surrounding hospitals and the hospital activates emergency scenarios.
The hospital has three venues with ventilation options, one of which is occupied by a Covid patient. Arthen announced that this could change hourly. Schwyz works closely with other hospitals. An expansion of these capabilities would result in massive restrictions on the rest of the hospital’s operations, but it is possible.
Schwyz Hospital. Image: keystone
How strong is the increase in cases?
The number of corona cases since the beginning of the pandemic has increased across the canton of Schwyz by 94 from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning until 1123. The number of people who tested positive and who they were isolated increased in 24 hours from 67 to 458. The death toll increased from 1 to 28.
The test positivity rate is also high: 30 to 40 percent of tests performed at Schwyz Hospital’s Corona Center are now positive, the hospital said.
Is the canton introducing any additional measures?
Yes, it does, but it is criticized by the Schwyz Hospital. On Tuesday, the governing council had mandated a mask for events of 50 or more people, as well as a restricted mask requirement for shops, post offices, cinemas and churches. These measures apply from Friday.
However, the Schwyz governing council does not require the wearing of a mask in general. In this area, there would be no signs of frequent infections, according to Tuesday’s press release.
In the hospital’s view, the canton reacted consistently too late and too little in light of the growing number of cases, said Arthen hospital spokeswoman.
Where did the sudden increase come from?
A yodel festival could be the origin of the rapid rise of the falls. At the end of September, the yodel musical “uf immer und Ewig” took place in the multipurpose Mythen Forum in Schwyz. Around 600 people attended the two functions. As the organizer told SRF, all precautionary measures had been observed, but there were people with the corona virus in the yodel chorus.
The article on the Schwyz crown bud from “Schweiz aktuell”. Video: SRF
Only nine days after the performances they discovered that the members of the yodel ensemble were corona-positive, Beat Hegner, CEO of Mythen Forum, tells SRF. It assumes that the virus spread among the population after these occasions.
(sda / chmedia / cma)
