Restaurants have to close at 11pm, no hospital visits, new testing center in Nottwil: Canton of Lucerne tightened crown measures

(fmü) At its meeting on October 23, 2020, the Lucerne governing council decided to toughen the following measures to contain the new coronavirus in addition to the federal measures already in place. From Saturday:

• Restaurants, including bars and clubs, discos, and dance halls, must be closed to the public between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
• Visits are prohibited in hospitals and homes for the elderly and the elderly, including spas. The management of the facility decides the exceptions in cases of difficulty.
• The mask is mandatory in workplaces inside facilities and companies. Exceptions are people who work alone in a room, as well as workplaces where distance can be maintained or there are additional protective measures such as barriers.
• In private and closed transport vehicles, a mask is required if people who do not live in the same household are transported.
• Erotic and sexual businesses are closed to the public.

After the Federal Council meeting on Wednesday, the Governing Council will draw up additional follow-up regulations at the cantonal level if necessary.

Lucerne health and social director Guido Graf justified the procedure in a message on Friday afternoon as follows: “The epidemiological situation is dramatic. According to the forecast of the Federal Scientific Working Group, we will run out of intensive care places in hospitals in about three weeks if we do not reduce the number of infections and diseases quickly and forcefully. We cannot afford to watch and wait to see if the measures taken so far are sufficient. “

Establishment of more test centers.

Therefore, the testing capacities in the canton of Lucerne will increase over the next few days. The test center at the Army Training Center in Lucerne, which resumed operations on October 19, is gradually increasing its capacity from 80 currently to 240 tests per day. In addition, a test drive center is being installed at the Swiss Paraplegic Center (SPZ) facility in Nottwil. It begins on November 2 and is open from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Operation at the SPZ facilities will not be affected by the test center. The canton is also evaluating a third location in the Entlebuch region, which is expected to come online on November 9.

The “Drive In” in Lucerne.

Image: Eveline Beerkircher (Lucerne, October 22, 2020)

The process is identical in all testing centers: the person to be tested arrives in the car, a health professional takes a throat swab through the open window. From the end of October, testing should be possible at all locations without a doctor’s referral. People with symptoms who need to be tested and people who have received a message from the Swisscovid app can register at www.lu.ch/coronavirus starting October 28.

“With drive-ins, you can test more people efficiently and quickly. This is important to stop the spread of Covid-19, ”continued Graf. With the commissioning of the “Drive-In” in Nottwil, test capacities can be increased by an additional 120 tests per day. In total, testing centers, doctors and hospitals in the canton of Lucerne will be able to perform up to 1,100 tests per day, according to the announcement.