The COVID-19 pandemic
Ticino, Bern, all of Switzerland
Key figures: Alain Berset, Daniel Koch
Sources: Federal Council, 2020, RSI timeline (Italian)
The first case (February 2020). On 25 February 2020 the first case of COVID-19 is confirmed in Ticino. The canton, close to Lombardy, is the first and the worst hit in the first wave. On 28 February the Federal Council declares a “special situation” and bans events with more than a thousand people.
The extraordinary situation (16 March 2020). On 16 March the Federal Council declares, for the first time under the Epidemics Act, an “extraordinary situation”: schools, non-essential shops, restaurants and leisure venues close, and border controls return. Unlike other countries, there is no general ban on leaving home. Daniel Koch, head of communicable diseases at the Federal Office of Public Health, and Federal Councillor Alain Berset become familiar faces.
Aid and the second wave. To prevent bankruptcies the Confederation guarantees loans to businesses and extends short-time work. After the summer reopenings, the second wave in the autumn of 2020 is heavier than the first. Vaccinations begin at the end of December 2020; in 2021 the COVID certificate arrives, dividing the country.
Three votes and the end of the measures. The COVID law is approved by the people three times: on 13 June 2021, on 28 November 2021 and on 18 June 2023. On 1 April 2022 the Federal Council lifts the last measures and returns to the normal situation. The pandemic leaves a country divided between freedom and the protection of health, and an open debate on crisis management.
SBB departure board: from 6 July 2020 masks are compulsory on public transport, 5 July 2020
Photo Hadi, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
A leaflet against the COVID law in Onex before the vote of 28 November 2021: “Covid certificate = permanent vaccination!”
Photo MHM55, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0