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Canton Vaud is Corona’s new access point in Switzerland. In a regional hospital there is no longer room in the intensive care unit and contact tracing does not always work.
At the lake instead of the club, the canton of Vaud is tightening the screws.
“We hoped we wouldn’t have to take such drastic measures, but now they are necessary.” The president of the Canton of Vaud, Nuria Gorrite, could not hide her sadness when she appeared before the media on Tuesday afternoon. But the recent sharp increase in the number of corona cases leaves authorities with no choice: If you want to avoid a situation that is no longer controllable, you must act quickly now.
The most important of them refers to the discos and strip bars: they must be closed from Thursday at 3:00 p.m. These have been shown to play an important role in transmitting the virus, Gorrite said. What type of compensation the operators of these bars will receive will be discussed in the coming weeks. The neighboring canton of Geneva, as the only canton in Switzerland to date and also in response to the increasing number of cases, ordered the closure of all nightspots in early August. Since then, the infection curve has flattened.
No beer in the bar
Vaud also prohibits private events with more than 100 participants, such as weddings, birthday parties, or business meetings, but not public events such as soccer or ice hockey games. One is aware that this would lead to massive restrictions for organizers, Gorrite said, and even preemptively apologized.
Restaurants and bars can remain open. But as soon as the guests get up from the tables, they have to wear a mask, the staff always. It is no longer allowed to consume while standing. There are no additional restrictions on public transport, at work or in training centers.
The background of the measures is the explosion of corona cases: Vaud was already one of the worst affected cantons in Switzerland in the spring, now it is the inglorious favorite, with 199 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 59 on average Switzerland. 6.5 percent of all cases are positive, which is also the highest value nationally. The fact that certain countries have put Vaud (like Geneva) on a red list with the corresponding quarantine requirement is “extremely damaging” for the tourism sector, according to Gorrite.
Hospitalizations are increasing dramatically
However, even more than the numbers of “naked” cases, the change within age groups is worrying. People aged 24 to 39 years (often barely ill or even asymptomatic) remain the largest group, but the number of infected older people has also increased considerably recently. This is reflected in the hospitalizations, 33 people are currently in Vaudois hospitals due to Covid-19, more than double than ten days ago.
The number does not appear to be particularly high, said health director Rebecca Ruiz. However, it must be borne in mind that, unlike what happened in the spring, hospitals are currently operating normally and have a correspondingly high occupancy rate. In a regional hospital, there are no more places in the intensive care unit, says Ruiz; can’t say if this is due to Covid-19 alone.
Seen across the canton of Vaud, the current situation for hospitals is not yet precarious, but development is cause for concern, Ruiz said. That is why one now has the restrictions in the leisure area. Should the situation in hospitals worsen, other measures could also be considered there, such as postponing non-mandatory operations or cooperating with other cantons. In the Vaudois nursing homes and nursing homes, which were particularly affected in the spring, there have been nine deaths in connection with Covid-19 since August 17, and patients are often suffering from various diseases.
How well does contact tracing work?
Vaud also wants to tighten the screw when tracking the crown boxes. The pool of all contact trackers includes 100 people, 50 of whom are on duty every day, doubling the team in a few days. However, due to the explosion in the number of cases, the tracers do not always keep up. The NZZ is aware of at least one case in which a person who tested positive has yet to receive a call from authorities half a week after the result and has never been asked who her close relatives were.
The head of Health Ruiz does not hide that the dizzying number of cases caused “some delays” in tracking contacts. That is why the team has now expanded significantly. It is not possible to name a limit beyond which this is no longer up to the task, according to Ruiz.
Cantonal doctor Karim Boubaker adds that when the number of cases is as high as in recent days, it is sometimes necessary to weigh interests and it is not always possible to call all the contact persons. Also, some of them just don’t take calls. In any case, the explosion in the number of cases is not due to incomplete contact tracing, but to problematic behavior among the population, which has made it possible for the virus to spread more quickly.
