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Keystone
![Large events such as soccer games are again allowed with more than 1000 spectators from October 1st.]()
1/11
Large events such as soccer games are again allowed with more than 1000 spectators from October 1st.
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keystone-sda.ch
![Health Minister Alain Berset smiles triumphantly: With his compromise proposal, he has thwarted the opening turmoil.]()
2/11
Health Minister Alain Berset smiles triumphantly: With his compromise proposal, he has thwarted the opening turmoil.
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Thomas Meier
![SVP Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer is one of Berset's most stubborn opponents.]()
3/11
SVP Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer is one of Berset’s most stubborn opponents.
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keystone-sda.ch
![SP Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga warns:]()
10/11
SP Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga warns: “The relaxation is not a free pass, but brings more responsibility.”
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keystone-sda.ch
![Alain Berset emphasizes:]()
11/11
Alain Berset emphasizes: “After six months of the pandemic, we have to learn to live with the virus.”
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The Federal Office of Public Health reported 274 new confirmed corona cases on Wednesday. The last time the numbers were higher in mid-April. The latest leap may also have alarmed the Federal Councilors, who had to decide on the ban on major events on the same day.
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The result is a compromise that SP Health Minister Alain Berset (48) presented to his colleagues at the last moment. The ban is extended by one month. From October 1st, major events with over 1000 people are allowed again. However, only under conditions and with the approval of the relevant canton.
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In the next few weeks, Berset wants to work with the cantons to develop uniform criteria for the approval process.
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Berset had to do some persuasion
Berset himself would actually have preferred to extend the ban by two or three months, the majority of the cantonal health directors even until the end of the year. The bourgeois Federal Councilors – above all the two SVP Federal Councilors Ueli Maurer (69) and Guy Parmelin (60) – would have preferred to open at the beginning of September.
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But after an intensive discussion, Berset’s compromise proposal prevailed. Before the crucial meeting, a lot of persuasion was done bilaterally, as one hears from the administration. In the end, even Ambri Piotta fan Maurer had to give in.
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The main argument that caught on: The cantons simply need more time to prepare for the transition and to further expand their contact tracing to trace the corona cases. Because even the end of the holidays and the return to work and to schools are a challenge for the cantons. And major events are potential super-spreader events – a risk.
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At the moment the situation is still under control, argued Berset in the Federal Council. In order to be able to take a calculable risk with the next easing step, sufficient preparation time is required – and not a rushed shot that puts everything at risk again.
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Bourgeois settle in for a rational solution
With this argumentation, the Minister of Health slowed the opening up. “Implementation at the beginning of September would simply not have been realistic, we had to accept that. It is a rational solution ”, it says from a bourgeois department. Ultimately, the resistance was no longer too great.
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It is better to give the health minister and the cantons an additional loop in order to find a clean solution, instead of breaking a half-baked concept over the knee. In line with Berset’s loosening creed: As quickly as possible and as slowly as necessary.
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Whereby in the bourgeois camp one cannot resist the malicious question of whether the SP magistrate actually spent the whole summer in hibernation instead of preparing in good time for the end of the ban.
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From October the cantons on the trigger
So be it: From October onwards, the cantons will be largely on the trigger. In future, you must approve every major event. If the epidemiological situation in a canton or the resources for contact tracing do not permit it, they can also refuse approval. Or use more restrictive protective measures – again, if necessary, temporary audience limits.
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“The preparation is now absolutely central for us,” said SP Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga (60) in front of the media. And warned: “The relaxation is not a free pass, but brings more responsibility.”
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Berset, in turn, emphasized: “After six months of the pandemic, we have to learn to live with the virus.”
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