Corona: Who now insists on a blockade and who is against it?

Who now insists on closure and who is against it?

How does the Federal Council decide on Friday? For many, a second lockdown is inevitable. But there are also critical voices. An overview.

These cantons are calling for a closure

Last week, many cantons were still very unhappy with the stricter measures taken on short notice by the federal government. Now the wind is changing, especially in the German-speaking cantons.

In Basel city the mini-blockade was extended until January 22. Until then, restaurants, sports and leisure facilities will be closed. The Basel government defends that these measures are also applied at the national level.

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It sounds similar from the neighboring canton Baselland. There state governments are supposed to decide on new measures on Friday. If that does not happen, the Basel government has prepared a package of measures that will take effect at the end of the week.

Even in the canton St. Gallenwhere the number of cases is currently very high, government councilor Bruno Damann admits mistakes. “From today’s perspective, we are reacting too late,” Damann said in an interview with the “St. Galler Tagblatt.” If the federal government does not order the closure of restaurants on Friday, the government of St. Gallen will do so on Saturday. Damann continued. Elementary schools should reopen after the holidays. Possible distance learning at the upper secondary level is currently being discussed.

the Schaffhauser The government goes one step further. It closes schools at all levels, from kindergarten to vocational school, on December 18 instead of December 24. The cantonal government is also considering ordering distance education for the first two weeks after the Christmas holidays, that is, until January 15, 2021.

In Zürich further instructions from Bern are still awaited. Zurich’s governing council proposed on Wednesday that Switzerland’s ski areas be closed immediately. Hospitals in the canton of Zurich are hardly in a position to care for more accident patients from the ski areas. “It is incomprehensible that sports and leisure facilities should be closed while skiing in the mountains despite all the risk of infections and accidents,” writes the cantonal government.

the Zuger Health Director Martin Pfister also calls for new measures. “If a lock is necessary, it must be issued quickly, consistently and for a limited period.” The governing council opposes a “gradual blockade for a longer period of time,” as it told the Zuger Zeitung.

At Western switzerlandwhere the number of cases has dropped again, people back down with requests for closure. One wants to wait for the effects of the Federal Council’s Corona measures announced last Friday before a new package is launched. The predominantly French-speaking cantons are in favor of a national concept.

The objective is to avoid a chain of restrictions if the compensatory measures foreseen at the economic level are not clearly defined, the six cantons shared Geneva, Waadt, Wallis, Freiburg, Neuenburg and Swear Tuesday in a joint statement.

Federal Task Force

The crown federal task force has long been insisting on a comprehensive shutdown. “The idea of ​​a confinement is not easy,” he emphasized Martin Ackermann, Chairman of the Working Group.

However, comprehensive measures are needed throughout Switzerland. “We are in a different situation than in early autumn. We already have a high number of cases, doubling it would be devastating, “Ackermann said in an interview with 10 to 10.” From a scientific point of view, strong measures must be introduced as quickly as possible. “

Doctors and hospitals

There is also a roar in the hospitals. On Tuesday, three directors of Zurich hospitals appeared before the media and provided information on the current situation. The director of the Universitätsspitals Zürich (USZ), Gregor Zünd, I cannot imagine how Switzerland can avoid a blockade. The reason is the number of infections, which would continue to increase despite the new measures.

The USZ, Zurich city hospitals, and Winterthur Cantonal Hospital are already heavily occupied by Covid patients. Hospital administrators emphasized that the staff is extremely stressed.

I am Inselspital of Bern 90 percent of the capacity of the intensive care unit is depleted. Therefore, doctors and nurses are very concerned about the increasing number of Covid infections. “It would affect us in the long term if the number of infections continued to rise,” Stephan Jakob, chief physician for intensive care at Insel Group, said Wednesday.

The main doctor of the canton of Switzerland also calls for the closure. “We want tough measures throughout Switzerland, and as quickly as possible,” he said. Rudolf Hauri, President the Asociation Canton Doctors and Canton Doctors Switzerland. Hauri also spoke with SRF that the measures could be more relaxed than in March. “It doesn’t have to be a total lockdown, for example, it could leave physical therapists open and otherwise aim to close facilities and businesses.”

Who is against tougher measures?

Although all signs point to a lockdown, there is also resistance. Warn in an open letter to the Federal Council 50 parliamentarians the bourgeois parties face even tougher measures. “A new blockade would clearly abandon proportionality and ignore economic and social policy as a whole,” said the letter reported in the Tamedia newspapers.

The economic survival of many commercial companies is already questionable. Politicians ask the Federal Council to pass judgments and only impose measures that have proven to be effective and adequate.

With sda material

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