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Germany closes: as of Wednesday, a “strict lockdown” will be applied on our northern neighbor. The resolutions have not only been carefully recorded in the border cantons. Because the number of cases per one hundred thousand inhabitants in Switzerland is almost double that in the Federal Republic. However, Germany has agreed to measures much stricter than those put forward by the Federal Council on Friday.
In spring, public life and the economy were equally restricted on both sides of the borders and crossing the border was only possible in exceptional cases. Specialty shops, service providers and restaurants in Germany are now closed, while in most border cantons you can go out to eat until at least 7 pm and buy more than just food and other essentials.
April 5, 2020: Border closed between Konstanz and Kreuzlingen.
© Gian Ehrenzeller / KEYSTONE
Even if Switzerland is on the German quarantine list, in theory, shopping tourism is still possible. Because the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, which borders the two Basles, Aargau, Zurich, Schaffhausen and Thurgau, continues to allow “small border traffic”. This means that the quarantine obligation does not apply if you stay in neighboring Swiss regions for less than 24 hours.
Basel-Stadt fears “pull effect”
Thurgau health director Urs Martin (SVP) expects “a slightly higher flow of visitors from Germany” in the border areas. That could help the Swiss industry and the catering sector selectively. But in view of the tense situation in the healthcare system, traveling too much is not welcome.
“The population is mobile and restrictions on supply in one area mean that a certain number of trips are made to a neighboring area where there is a larger supply,” said Lukas Engelberger (CVP), Martin’s partner in Basel. The stores opened in Basel could develop “a pull effect” on residents of German areas near the border: “From an epidemiological point of view, this worries us because it could lead to more infections.
Warning appeals from healthcare workers
But even without the possible shopping tourism from Germany, the high number of new infections worries representatives of the Swiss health system. Over the weekend, chief doctors, nurses, and university hospitals addressed the public in sometimes dramatic terms.
The tenor: The situation in the health sector is extremely tense. Staff are overloaded and the number of cases must be reduced quickly to prevent intensive care units from collapsing. With the measures decided on Friday, this goal could not be achieved.
“The decisions of the Federal Council are not enough”
Lukas Engelberger from Basel is president of the Directors of Health Conference (GDK). He takes these appeals seriously: “The situation is very volatile and tense.” It is questionable whether last Friday’s decisions were enough.
GDK President Lukas Engelberger expects further adjustment.
© Peter Schneider / KEYSTONE
It sounds even clearer from the canton of Solothurn: “The decisions of the Federal Council last Friday are not enough,” says Health Director Susanne Schaffner. “We need stricter measures.” Healthcare personnel have been under constant pressure for weeks: “This cannot last for weeks. We have to get the numbers down quickly. “
Solothurn Health Director Susanne Schaffner calls for tougher measures.
© Hanspeter Bärtschi
Germany’s decision, Schaffner emphasizes, does not influence their demand. Switzerland has to assess the situation there: “At least in German-speaking Switzerland, the traffic lights are red,” warns the Solothurn woman. The population must be clear that the overload of the health system does not only affect Covid patients or members of risk groups: “Each and every one of us can be involved in an accident, for example, and then depend on the operation of intensive care units “.
Thurgau health director Urs Martin is also concerned about the situation: “We have too many new infections and the situation in hospitals is critical.”
Will the blockade come in a week?
In the coming days, individual cantonal governments will discuss further tightening, as in Basel-Landschaft on Tuesday. On Monday, cantonal health directors will exchange ideas with Federal Councilor Alain Berset (SP) by conference call.
According to the Federal Council’s announcement on Friday, it wants to discuss an “escalation mechanism” with the cantons. The Federal Council wants to clarify how, if the epidemiological situation worsens, a further hardening can be quickly decided.
But this roadmap is already in doubt again, as the discussions with various health directors show. It is possible that the Federal Council will decide on a new tightening throughout the country on Friday: “It is possible that only one mechanism will be decided this week”, says Urs Martin from Thurgau: “It may also be that the Federal Council decides on a new tightening “.
GDK president Lukas Engelberger does not rule out that Friday’s schedule is already out of date. On Monday’s GDK conference call, they will talk to Berset about measures to further reduce the number of cases. Another Swiss-German health director, who wants to remain anonymous, assumes that several cantons will rush to tougher measures over the course of the week, and that the Federal Council will announce the closure of restaurants and most stores on Friday.
