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The holders of unverified reports:
Will there be a regional coronavirus lockdown soon?
According to the “NZZ am Sonntag,” the federal government has been planning regional coronavirus lockdowns for months. The newspaper is based on the minutes of the conference calls between the Federal Office of Public Health and the doctors of the canton. Thus, in June the federal government drew up “a list of critical infrastructures for possible closures of regions or municipalities as part of a second wave.” Faced with the paper, the federal government stated: “The Federal Office for Civil Protection is examining, in cooperation with other competent bodies, how in the event of a local or regional closure it can be ensured that critical infrastructure operators or systemically important companies can maintain its operations to the extent possible. ” However, it remains open when and how such a lock could be imposed. As confirmed by various newspaper sources, the federal government, the cantons, and the federal scientific working group on coronavirus are working on the so-called winter strategy. This had already been addressed in the summer, he said.
FDP women want to reform the tax system
According to reports from “NZZ am Sonntag” and “Le Matin Dimanche”, the FDP wants to reform the tax system in Switzerland. The women of the FDP want to launch a popular initiative to introduce individual taxes, which has been debated for almost 20 years. They wanted to get married couples to pay taxes separately in the future. “We want to put an exclamation point for something to finally work on this issue,” St. Gallen National Councilor and FDP Women’s Chairperson Susanne Vincenz-Stauffacher told “NZZ am Sonntag.” The current tax system punishes married couples with two incomes and thus makes it difficult for women to engage in professional life, he said. However, it is important that old injustices are not replaced by new ones, the politician warned in both newspapers. And thanks to technical progress and digitization, tax administrations should also be able to handle two tax returns without any major additional effort, Vincenz-Stauffacher was also convinced.
Cantonal tracking teams are overloaded
According to the newspaper “SonntagsZeitung”, cantonal contact trackers can no longer cope with the explosion of coronavirus cases in many places. Therefore, there is a risk that the chains of infection can no longer be broken. The tracking team in the canton of Zurich, for example, is so overloaded that the canton stops tracking infection cases and alerting those affected by possibly infected contact persons. A spokeswoman for the Zurich health department confirmed this to the newspaper: The newspaper was also aware of several cases where contact tracing had failed and potentially infected people were not alerted. In many cantons, only 10 to 20 percent of newly infected people had already been quarantined at the time of the positive coronavirus test, he said. The epidemiologist and member of the federal task force on the coronavirus, Marcel Tanner, admitted to the “SonntagsZeitung” that contact tracing is reaching its limits in some places. However, Switzerland must not renounce it under any circumstances. “On the contrary: the cantons will have to make even greater efforts, otherwise we will be hit by a second wave,” Tanner warned.
Acute bankruptcy risk for Swiss hotel companies
The air is getting thinner for the Swiss hotel industry in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. According to reports from “NZZ am Sonntag” and “Le Matin Dimanche”, only one in four hotels see no risk of bankruptcy. The newspapers refer to a survey by the Hotelleriesuisse association. Consequently, nearly eight percent see a serious risk of having to file for bankruptcy. Hotels in Zurich and Geneva are particularly under threat. Only a quarter of companies see no threat to their own business in the current coronavirus situation. However, about 37 percent of the companies surveyed would be forced to lay off staff in the coming months, and this despite short-term work, he said.
The federal government wants two-stage flu vaccination
According to the “NZZ am Sonntag”, vaccination against influenza in Switzerland will be carried out in two stages this year. The federal government must make a two-stage approach acceptable to the population because if there is a greater need, there is not enough vaccine immediately available for everyone. Manufacturers regularly delivered around 1.2 million doses to hospitals, pharmacies and doctors on the open market. The federal government has insured another 500,000 cans through contracts. “However, these can only be delivered at the end of November,” the Federal Office of Public Health BAG wrote to the newspaper about it. According to the newspaper, part of the delay is explained by disputes between various federal offices and the therapeutic products authority Swissmedic. The differences had prevented an order for a vaccine in the spring, he said.
Poverty of the poor is getting worse
The coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating the poverty of the poor, according to the “SonntagsBlick.” The newspaper is based on expert statements. So wages are often no longer enough to live on, economist Isabel Martínez told the newspaper. Furthermore, the reserves of people who have a precarious job are scarce or non-existent. And then there is bad education: “With growing inequality, opportunities for advancement diminish,” said the expert. The newspaper also recalls the queues of people who recently became the center of attention to get food and claimed that 370,000 people in Switzerland would soon be living on welfare.
The pandemic hits the psyche of young people
According to the “SonntagsZeitung”, the pandemic hits the psyche of many young people. The child and adolescent psychiatry clinic at the Zurich University Hospital and the Aargau Psychiatric Services have never had as many emergencies as this year, the newspaper writes. In particular, the number of patients who were injured, suffered depression and committed suicide has increased. The newspaper also cites a study that found that a quarter of adolescents and young adults suffered from symptoms that suggest a mental disorder.
