“Follow the measures”: this is how the director of health attracts the population – Canton (Solothurn) – Solothurn

After the Federal Council issued new protective measures over the weekend to reduce the number of new infections with Covid-19, the canton of Solothurn is now doing the same. As of today, additional rules are applied in the canton to reduce the number of new infections in the canton again.

The government councilors Remo Ankli, Susanne Schaffner and Brigit Wyss, as well as the canton doctor Lukas Fenner, announced the new rules at a press conference.

The “critical situation” requires new measures

“From an epidemiological point of view, the situation is critical, perhaps even very critical,” warned canton doctor Lukas Fenner at the beginning of the conference. “We are growing exponentially and we see a trend for older people to become more infected.”

The positivity rate of around 10 percent shows that the number of unreported cases has also increased in recent days. “Hospitals will have to treat significantly more patients in the coming days,” continues Fenner.

Until yesterday, there were 12 people in the canton hospital. Three of them had to be treated in the intensive care unit, two of them ventilated. Due to the aggravated situation in the canton, the following rules apply as of today in addition to the measures that the Federal Council decided on Sunday:

• In clubs, discos and dance halls, only 300 people are allowed to be present at the same time.
• For bars, clubs and discos there is a curfew on Fridays and Saturdays from 01:00 to 06:00.
• All restaurants, clubs and bars must collect their customers’ contact details electronically.
• If it is not possible to take protective measures at a public or private event and safety distances cannot be respected, no more than 50 people may be present.
• In schools, adults should wear a protective mask if safe distances cannot be maintained. This as of October 26.

The canton has yet to mandate stricter measures on nursing homes and nursing homes. Health Director Susanne Schaffner said the cantonal measures are intended to fill in the gaps where Federal Council measures were insufficient. The new measures were agreed with the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt.

In the canton of Solothurn no measures are taken as in Aargau, where only 50 people can be present in the clubs: “We would prefer to close the clubs completely,” says Schaffner. The canton of Solothurn has not yet made a decision regarding major events – major events for which the canton has already issued a permit can be held in the region. In the canton, this only affects the games of the EHC Olten, which has developed a protection concept for its stadium.

The governing council will decide in the coming days whether more permits will be granted. “New permits are hardly ever issued,” says Schaffner, considering that it would be contradictory in the current situation. “

Because even if protection measures were observed, it can be assumed that infected people would be in the audience due to the large number of unreported cases. The cantons of Basel-Stadt and Bern have already reacted accordingly: Basel-Stadt banned major events on Wednesday and the canton of Bern on Sunday.

If the Solothurn contact follow-up team had to contact many visitors to an important event at the same time, it would be a huge burden on the team. “We are reaching the limit little by little. We no longer have to deal with peaks, but with continued growth, ”says Canton Councilor Lukas Fenner.

It is still possible to contact the index persons by phone. “But we have to be careful not to get left behind.” In order to continue managing contact tracing, it is currently testing whether community service individuals can be deployed.

A call to the population

So that the situation in the canton of Solothurn does not get worse and worse, more measures could be added in the canton, explains the health director. Susanne Schaffner. Now it is urgent and important to see what we can still do ”.

The behavior of the population is also extremely important. “Without understanding that the protection measures ordered are important, it does not work,” said the government councilor.

“Therefore, I appeal to the solidarity of all citizens. Follow the measurements. Makes home office. Don’t move in groups. Then we can do it. “