Bern (awp / ats) – The coronavirus once again dominates the Sunday press. It is particularly a question of the difficulties to be vaccinated in another canton or of a potential reduction or elimination of the quarantine. Here is the main information, unconfirmed at Keystone-ATS:
MORNING SUNDAY: Officially, it is possible to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in another canton, but in practice it is much more complicated, reports Le Matin Dimanche. Asked by the newspaper, the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) confirms that everyone is free to be vaccinated wherever they want, while specifying that it is up to the cantons to regulate access to vaccination and that some may reserve it for their residents only. This is particularly the case of the Jura, which gives priority to its fellow citizens for recall. It specifies to offer possibilities to non-residents if beaches are available. The journalist from Matin Dimanche, however, was refused. In the canton of Neuchâtel, non-residents can make an appointment but not through the dedicated site. They must make it life the secretariat of vaccination, “a solution which requires a lot of patience”, according to the newspaper. In the canton of Vaud, vaccination is only open to residents as well as to the following three categories: frontier workers who work in the canton and its LAMal policyholders as well as residents of Broye Fribourgeoise and those of Chablais Valaisan, but only in intercantonal hospitals in these two regions. Conversely, the cantons of Valais, Friborg, Geneva and Bern welcome all LAMal policyholders in Switzerland.
LE MATIN DIMANCHE: As Israel began administering a fourth dose of the vaccine, Swiss experts interviewed by Le Matin Dimanche believe that if a 4th dose were to be administered in Switzerland, it would not happen until the second half of 2022. “Studies are needed to better understand the effect of the third dose”, notes Alessandro Diana, expert at Infovac. And to add that for the moment, “nothing indicates that a fourth injection of the same product would be really useful”. Vaccine producers have announced that they are working on a reformulated vaccine to fight Omicron that should be available in the coming months. Experts deem it better to wait for these revised versions before discussing the fourth dose. “The goal is not to boost our antibodies against a virus that no longer exists”, indicates Giuseppe Pantaleo, director of the Immunology and Allergy Department of the CHUV.
NZZ AM SONNTAG / SONNTAGSZEITUNG: There are more and more voices in Switzerland calling for a reduction in the quarantine, or even its removal after contact with an infected person. As more and more people are in quarantine due to the rapid increase in the number of cases, Zurich Health Minister Natalie Rickli is asking the NZZ to reduce the quarantine from ten to five days. The president of cantonal doctors Kurt Hauri is open to such a proposal, citing indications that people infected with Omicron are infectious for a shorter period of time. A source told the newspaper that discussions within the Federal Council were heading in the same direction. In the SonntagsZeitung, epidemiologist Marcel Salathé indicates that he could imagine a removal of the quarantine obligation under certain conditions. He proposes that anyone who has had contact with an infected person should receive ten rapid tests. The person should then test themselves daily. As long as the test is negative, the affected person can return to work with careful behavior. There is certainly a residual risk but, given the significant absences caused by this epidemic wave, it is tolerable, estimates the scientist.
SONNTAGSZEITUNG: Many private providers of rapid antigenic tests and PCR tests have violated the directives of the cantonal health authorities. The cantons have closed the relevant test centers, reports the SonntagsZeitung. It was the canton of Aargau which took the most severe measures against these not very serious test centers. It has already withdrawn twelve operating licenses from various providers who carried out tests outside pharmacies, doctors’ offices and hospitals. Closures have also taken place in the cantons of Schwyz, Zurich, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Schaffhausen and in Graubünden. The conditions were sometimes deplorable. In Basel, a test center was located in a store that sold shoes and keys.
SONNTAGSBLICK: In December, the Federal Council decided to extend its aid for hardship cases to 2022 and instructed the Federal Department of Finance to draw up an ordinance to this effect. According to a draft of the document that the SonntagsBlick obtained, the conditions would be tightened. The objective is for companies to adapt by their own means to the developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, we can read in the explanations of the project. A company will have to prove to the cantonal authorities in the future that it is not able to ensure the continuation of its activity following the measures taken to fight against the Covid-19 epidemic, specifies the order. The receipt of partial unemployment benefit or compensation for loss of earnings is considered as proof. The Federal Council is due to vote on the subject in February.
To change the subject:
SONNTAGSZEITUNG: Cell phones do not increase the risk of brain tumors in children and adolescents, according to a study relayed by the SonntagsZeitung. It was performed on patients from 14 countries. These results even delight the organization “Doctors for the protection of the environment”, rather critical of mobile telephony. According to expert Martin Röösli, the results are supported by data from cancer registries in different countries. Despite the sharp increase in the use of cell phones, the frequency of brain tumors has remained constant. These new results could prompt the World Health Organization to revise its assessment of electromagnetic fields as potentially carcinogenic.
SONNTAGSBLICK: In Switzerland, criminals are more often remanded in custody than in other countries. The National Commission for the Prevention of Torture criticizes the harshness of pre-trial detention in the country. The Swiss Competence Center for the Execution of Sentences has drawn up a comparison with foreign countries for the “SonntagsBlick”. It shows that preventive detention is more often ordered in Switzerland than in neighboring countries such as Germany, Austria and Italy. In Switzerland, the probability that an offender commits suicide while in preventive detention is more than twice as high as during the normal execution of the sentence. Six out of ten suicides in detention take place in preventive detention.
NZZ AM SONNTAG: As of January 1, transgender and intersex people can change their gender and first name without bureaucratic complications and quickly. There are no more medical examinations or other prerequisites, a simple declaration to the civil status is sufficient. According to research from the NZZ am Sonntag, this new possibility has already been used well. Dozens of people have asked to change their gender. There were 20 requests in Zurich, 8 in Basel, 14 in Geneva, 4 in Lucerne, 5 in Winterthur and 23 in the canton of Bern. The majority of requests concerned people under the age of 30. A person under 16 presented himself accompanied by his parents.
SONNTAGSZEITUNG / SONNTAGSBLICK: Former Raiffeisen bank boss Pierin Vincenz traded on a large scale through an account in Liechtenstein. Last year alone, the volume of transactions amounted to 95 million Swiss francs, reports the SonntagsZeitung. Mr Vincenz is said to have had accounts with 17 banks in total. Twelve of them did not belong to the Raiffeisen network. Some accounts didn’t have a lot of money, others millions. The most striking is an account with the LGT bank in Vaduz through which passed hidden salaries, money for thwarted love affairs but above all stock market transactions. According to the SonntagsBlick, Mr Vincenz’s business partner, Beat Stocker, was not a permanent employee but was hired on mandate as CEO of the credit card company Aduno, a more than usual way of doing things. The two men are on trial from January 25. The Zurich public prosecutor accuses them of having taken private stakes in several start-ups and of having taken advantage of their roles as leaders within Raiffeisen and Aduno to work on the takeover of these start-ups by passing millions in their pockets.