Hambagahle

What Berset said the mistake was - was to allow larger groups of people to get together for concerts etc. I agree with him. It was a huge error and created "super-seeder" events. We suffered from three of these here in the Valais and the result was that we quickly had the highest rate of infection in the country. That was in October. The cantonal government took strong measures - closed all restaurants, bars etc and limited gatherings to 10 aside from church services where 50 could participate (I find that odd). Result? Right now we have the second lowest infection rate in the country with an "R factor" around .8

The country that seems to have dealt with this the best is New Zealand. There is no COVID there anymore and Prime Minister Ardern plans to keep it that way. Tough lady.

kleeblatt

A friend and I went for a visit ot Lucerne yesterday. The shops were open but all the restaurants and cafes were closed. It was frustrating not being able to sit down somewhere warm and have a friendly conversation while drinking coffee. By the way, many jewelry shops and all the souviner shops were closed too. There has been layoffs at all the large jewelry centers, including Bucherer. If there was anything positive, it's that Lucerne belonged to its locals again.

Hambagahle

ALL restaurants, bars and cafés are closed all over Switzerland by order of the Federal Council - with a few exceptions: Canton de Vaud has opted to keep their mountain restaurants open which are those ON the mountain and not in the resorts; Graubunden has opened bars on the slopes - or will soon. For the rest - all closed.

While it is indeed nice to "get one's town back" so to speak it is devastating for the economy and for jobs.

scrb11

Aren't the ski resorts open?

There must be some kind of food service?

neckervd

Shops and take aways in the resorts are open (as elsewhere). At certain places, there are some take aways along the pists too.
Most people prepare their sandwiches and their hot tea in a thermos flask at home or in their holiday flat and take them with them.

Hambagahle

Ski resorts are open depending on the canton. So you have to check by canton. Rules for food service on the mountain varies from canton to canton. Here in the Valais mountain restaurants are not open. And won't be till 22 January. In Vaud they are open on the slopes but not in the villages. In the Graubunden terraces of restaurants are open for a semi take out food and drink service. NeckarVD is absolutely right - take your own food/drink. And no good on planning to ski down to a village to eat because all those restaurants are closed. People staying in hotels eat in their hotel. Those in apartments and chalets are self catering anyway.

scrb11

But isn't part of the experience going to a lodge or a restaurant for some hot food like fondue or raclette after skiing all day?

In the CA/NV ski resorts, they have some places which grill food outside with outdoor benches so that you don't have to take off all your ski gear to get a bite for lunch.

scrb11

Little controversy as vaccinations start in Switzerland

South African billionaire, who owns a Swiss company and is a resident of Satigny, is accused of jumping the line to get vaccinated.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...urce=applenews

He's 70 with underlying condition and they're suppose to be vaccinating only over 75 people.

Maybe a bit of xenophobia at work here? He may not be a citizen but if he's been living there for decades?

kleeblatt

The Swiss are seething with fury that he was able to jump the line. With that single action, he's become notorious and will not be forgotten so quickly.