[ad_1]
As of today Thursday, the masks are mandatory in the shops and shopping centers of the canton of Solothurn. After Zurich, Solothurn is the second neighboring canton of Aargau to take this action in the fight against the further spread of the coronavirus.
Health director Susanne Schaffner told the Solothurner Zeitung last week that there was a regular exchange with neighboring cantons on this issue to find a common strategy on the subject of masks. Apparently Schaffner expected Aargau to do the same and that the same rules would apply on both sides of the cantonal border.
Aargau does not register infections in stores.
But it’s not about that, from today the masks are mandatory in the shops of Solothurn, not in Aargau. The canton continues to waive the mask requirement, as Michel Hassler, a spokesman for the health department, told AZ when asked. “The requirement for masks for stores is not currently in the foreground,” he says. So far, the Aargau Contact Location Center is not aware of any infection at the POS.
According to Hassler, most new infections still exist in the family, at work and abroad. “Since the end of the school holidays, however, there has been an increase in infections within the school, at private events and again outside the canton in bars or clubs,” she says.
In about 40 percent of cases, the site of infection is unknown. “If the number of cases increases with sales personnel, or if the number of cases suggests a change in the epidemiological situation, we reserve the right to take further action,” says Hassler. However, there are no fixed limit values or criteria, such as a certain number of infected sales employees, that would result in a mask requirement.
Michel Hassler points out that the risk of infection when buying is “very small” according to the Federal Office of Public Health. If you pass other people quickly, the risk of infection through breath is low.
Trade association called for the mask requirement to be removed
The canton’s decision not to introduce a mask requirement in stores for the time being is fully in line with the Aargau Trade Association (AGV). The association sent a letter to the governing council on Monday to “apply all measures that can depress consumer confidence only with the greatest caution.” The association’s president, Kurt Schmid, told Tele M1 that many Aargau merchants feared that customers would buy less if they were required to wear a mask.
Instead of considering regional stores, consumers would switch to online retailing or the cantons, where there are no mask requirements, the association fears. Schmid hopes the governing council will waive this measure for some time. “Masks disrupt the shopping experience and unfortunately cause a decrease in willingness to buy or a relocation of purchases to the Internet, where foreign suppliers often benefit.” Also, the time spent in stores is likely too short or contact with other people is not close enough for an infection.
The trade association also argues that constant donning and doffing while shopping could lead to “a mask doing more harm than good to the wearer.” This is because the masks are improperly stored in the pockets of jackets or plastic bags, while customers “just skip the necessary hand sanitization.”
