Swiss Crown: These ski areas are open, not

Which cantons should close their ski areas and which ones should remain open

At the moment, the Federal Council has decided not to close the ski areas of the entire country. Some cantons have tightened the reins and closed the ski areas. An overview.

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Closure in central Switzerland

Due to the tense epidemiological situation, the cantons Lucerne, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zug decided to close its ski resorts as of December 22. The Corona situation does not allow them to continue operations or start operations at all, the Lucerne governing council said.

Therefore, the seven ski areas that had applied for an operating permit for the near future received a negative notification. In the canton of Lucerne, for example, they are affected Sörenberg and in the canton of Schwyz the Stoos wave Hoch-Ybrig. The ski lifts are also closed in Engelberg-Titlis.

The two cantons justify the closure of the ski areas until at least December 29 also with the situation of the hospitals. The capacities are practically exhausted.

Nidwalden will also close its ski and chairlift facilities, as well as ski and toboggan runs from December 22-29. The canton of Zug only has a few kilometers of slopes, but on December 22 you will stop skiing there too. The canton said the epidemiological situation was not expected to improve.

An important winter sports canton of central Switzerland is the ski area of Andermatt the canton Hate. The Uri government decided on Saturday not to grant ski resorts a permit to operate ski facilities from December 22-29. The risk of accidents should be reduced and thus an even greater burden on the healthcare system.

The decision was made in consultation with the other central Swiss cantons, according to a statement from the Uri government.

All nine Uri ski areas had presented the protection concepts for ski operations to the cantonal Covid-19 special staff on time. These had been verified and evaluated as eligible for approval. However, the prevailing epidemiological situation and available hospital capacities would speak against approval.

Appenzell Innerrhoden and Zurich will be closed

as well Appenzell Innerrhoden has decided not to issue permits for ski areas as of December 22. The canton does not meet the requirements established by the Federal Council, as the professional ethics committee (government) announced on Saturday.

The current situation in the canton and the region does not meet the requirements of the federal government, it says in the statement. The number of new corona infections in an average of 7 days is clear above the Swiss average. The number of views exceeded 1.3 on December 16 and the Swiss average is around 1.15. In intensive care medicine, Appenzell Innerrhoden depends on the neighboring cantons.

Same in Zürich: Here also the epidemiological situation does not allow skiing. Therefore, the operation of the winter sports facilities should be suspended from December 22 until further notice, as announced on Saturday by the cantonal government. Nine operators of winter sports facilities in the canton of Zurich had submitted the corresponding application, as indicated in the announcement of the governing council. The economics department responsible for the approval of the winter sports facilities has now decided, based on the epidemiological evaluation of the health department, that the requirements according to the Covid-19 regulation are not met.

St. Gallen before closing

It was already announced on Tuesday St. Gallenthat the ski operation will probably cease as of December 22. Regional President Bruno Damann (CVP) said at a press conference to react to the high numbers. “Certainly there will have to be relatively strict measures.”

If the situation does not improve, the canton will not grant permission to the ski resorts on December 22. Damann made clear Tuesday that ski areas are supposed to be closed. For a ski holiday in Flumserberg, Pizol and Wildhaus-Gamserrug it doesn’t look good now.

Bern’s hospitals on the edge: ski lifts remain open

The ski areas of the Canton of Bern will remain open for the time being. However, the government of Bern asks the population to be very careful and wants to close the ski areas if the situation in the hospitals worsens.

Bern’s health director Pierre Alain Schnegg (SVP) said that the Frutigen-Meiringen-Interlaken AG (fmi) hospitals had requested in a letter to close the ski areas in their area of ​​influence. The staff is exhausted. The cantonal government takes this “cry for help” very seriously.

Valais leaves ski areas and restaurants open

The measures announced by the Federal Council on Friday “will not affect the Valais for the time being,” said the president of the cantonal government, Christophe Darbellay, at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. In particular, the restaurants in the ski areas would remain open.

With a 0.97 virus reproduction rate the Valais will remain just below the minimum level of 1.0 required by the federal government, Darbellay explained. The daily incidence of infections remains below the national average for seven days.

The measures in the canton of tourism remain unchanged for the moment, Cafes and restaurants stay open until 10 pm. At the moment, nothing will change for the ski areas either. This week, the canton issued operating permits to 48 mountain railway companies.

The State Council is not afraid that potential ski accidents will overwhelm hospitals. These are often minor injuries, even the most serious cases rarely end up in the intensive care unit.

The Graubünden government will decide on Monday

Instead of announcing the end of the cantonal mini-closure, the Graubünden government must now support the closure of a national restaurant. On Monday it will be decided whether the ski areas of the tourist canton will remain open during the Christmas period.

In the fight against the corona virus, the Graubünden government extended the cantonal pickling blockade by four days. This means that the restaurants will be closed until December 22.

Now restaurants in Graubünden cannot receive guests for another month. “We take note of the decisions of the Federal Council,” said Graubünden’s health chief Peter Peyer (SP), when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. It is clear that there will be more losses for restaurants. These deficiencies would have to be covered by the federal government or, if necessary, by the cantons.

The lockdown in the catering industry is also affecting restaurants in ski areas. The mountain railways are currently in operation in the canton of Graubünden. “We will decide on Monday if they can stay that way,” Peyer said. Not only the protection concepts of the mountain railways influenced, but also the capabilities of the hospitals. According to Peyer, 12 of the 22 intensive care beds are currently occupied. The fact is that instead of 200,000 people are double in the canton during the festive period. (cma / sda)