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If party presidents have their way, the Federal Council should drastically tighten its entry requirements. Meanwhile, the state government is breaking with its resolutions elsewhere.
If it goes according to the ideas of the parties, test centers will soon be built at the border crossings with Switzerland.
This unusual unity is surprising: the presidents of all parties in the Bundesrat, as well as the Greens and the GLP, call for a tougher border regime in an open letter to federal president Guy Parmelin (svp.). The letter dated Friday has it all. It requires the government to introduce a complete testing and border system. This is supposed to create the impossible. It should help “control the pandemic as best as possible” on the one hand, and allow “the fewest possible restrictions on the economy and society” on the other. This is the only way to significantly reduce “virus import” and new mutations.
The letter does not leave her in this vague and at the same time urgent requirement. In the annex, the presidents of the parties enclose a sketch that should show how this company could be seen in concrete terms. These are the points that, according to the letter, have been worked taking into account the recommendations of science.
- Anyone entering from abroad must first undergo a validated PCR test, which should not take more than 48 hours. Here it is irrelevant whether the person enters Switzerland by plane or by land. Alternatively, the proposal suggests, antigen testing could be offered at a cost at border crossings.
- A negative test result should not mean a free ticket. Also, travelers must go straight to quarantine. Party chairmen view this “test and quarantine concept” as follows: after entering Switzerland with a negative test result, travelers must take another test after five days in quarantine “at least”.
- Stricter rules also apply to Swiss citizens returning from abroad. Party chairmen envision a five-day quarantine for them, which can be lifted after a negative PCR or antigen test.
- The draft also includes an innovation in terms of quarantine. Without a specific suspicion of corona infection, this can be relaxed. This so-called “quarantine light” would allow, for example, people to leave their own home, for example, to exercise, play sports or simply “get some fresh air”. Visiting shops or restaurants would still be prohibited.
- If the epidemiological situation improves significantly, the quarantine could be weakened or replaced by a mandatory rapid test. The same would apply to travelers from countries with “a good to very good pandemic situation”.
- According to the parties’ demands, the Federal Council should also tighten the rules for cross-border travelers, business travelers with short stays and day tourists, for example, with rapid tests. The authors of the open letter can also imagine that companies that have employed cross-border workers test their employees on a regular basis.
If the Federal Council were to actually implement this strict border regime, the consequences would be drastic. Party presidents know it too. For example, Jürg Grossen, president of GLP and initiator of the letter, admitted to the “Sunday newspaper” that “temporarily, slightly more or significantly fewer foreign tourists come to Switzerland on vacation.” However, this step is necessary, because it is the only way to protect the health of the population. “That has been demonstrated by the experience of the last weeks.”
Not for once # Party policy, but a constructive proposal for a solution of open borders and at the same time protecting the health of the population and the effect of our measures at home. Thank you @ marcochiesa74 @meyer_mattea @PetraGoessi @gerhardpfister @bglaettli pic.twitter.com/At2lbTLLIA
– Jürg Grossen (@Juerg_Grossen) January 24, 2021
FDP President Petra Gössi added twice in the report that the Federal Council must finally create clear rules for people entering Switzerland. But it is important that the borders are not closed. However, to achieve this, “for the safety of Switzerland and to reduce the number of cases, many more rapid tests should be carried out at the borders,” Gössi said.
Will there be massive tests all over Switzerland soon?
There should be movement in the management of the Federal Council crown not only with the border regime, but also with the issue of massive tests. For a long time, the Minister of the Interior, Alain Berset (sp.), Emphasized that only people showing symptoms should be tested. But now the cantons should follow the path that Graubünden is already on.
In a regulation that has been updated on the website of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the Federal Council is planning regular large-scale corona tests, in two situations: for example, for particularly vulnerable population groups. Because a good half of all Covid deaths in Switzerland were registered in nursing homes and nursing homes. Despite the concepts of protection, it has not been possible to fully protect the residents of Corona. The virus has likely been introduced into institutions by asymptomatic employees or family members. Massive nursing home testing could find such people and prevent infections.
Another situation where massive testing to contain the virus could be helpful is in the case of uncontrolled outbreaks, such as in towns or in the vicinity of schools, businesses or hotels. The latter happened last week in St. Moritz, when 3,200 hotel guests were tested for a corona variant. The Federal Council wants to promote this test in people without symptoms and also to fund it. In situations with a higher risk of transmission, cantons should be able to order repetitive tests for specific groups of people. The regulation has not yet been approved.
The experience in the Bernina region in the canton of Graubünden is used as a positive example in the paper. Massive tests were carried out there in mid-December, including additional tests. As a result, the number of cases dropped to almost zero by the end of the year.
Preventive testing for entire population groups is a means that many countries are already carrying out with success (click here for the report). Because more than half of all corona infections develop without symptoms. And these have to be identified in order to interrupt the chains of infection.
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