Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

A hot spell is currently engulfing Switzerland – great for visitors to the many concerts across the country (such as the Paleo Festival in Nyon, pictured yesterday). But a new strain of Covid is also sweeping the land. How worried should we be, and what precautions should we take?

Val Bondasca in September 2017: Eight hikers died and several houses were destroyed in one of the biggest landslides in Switzerland for over 130 years © Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

In the news:  Alleged rockslide negligence, Swiss Winter Olympics in 2038, and Swiss dogs contributing to Olympic security.

The Graubünden public prosecutor’s office has charged five people with multiple negligent homicide in connection with the deadly Bondo rockslide that occurred seven years ago. The regional court must decide whether, by failing to close footpaths, the five defendants misjudged the danger before the rockslide that killed eight people in 2017.

Sports Minister Viola Amherd, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, does not rule out a Winter Olympics in Switzerland in 2038. But they would have to be sustainable and take place on a smaller scale, she said today at the House of Switzerland in Paris, hours before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Games.

Switzerland is sending 17 police officers to Paris to support French security forces during the Olympic Games. Seven on the team are part of bomb squads, nine are handlers of explosives detection dogs and one is accompanied by a trained attack dog.

An international mood in Paris on Wednesday Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

Here’s everything you need to know – and a fair bit you don’t – about the 128 Swiss athletes taking part in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, whose opening ceremony takes place on the River Seine this evening.

Did you know, for example, that more than half the delegation are connected to the Swiss army? Or that the oldest participant is in his sixties? Or that the Swiss gender breakdown (66 men and 62 women) pretty much matches the overall split of 51%-49%? (Guam has the highest proportion of women (87.5%) – seven out of a team of eight. Six of the 205 official Olympic teams had no female athletes registered to compete: Belize, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Liechtenstein, Nauru and Somalia.)

In my article you’ll also learn about Swiss sailor Hélène de Pourtalès, who at the Olympic Games in 1900 – also in Paris – became the first female Olympic champion.

Keystone / Gaetan Bally

“Another wave of Covid is sweeping over us – and in summer,” warns the Tages-Anzeiger in an editorial. But it adds that there’s no reason to panic.

It’s not yet clear how severe it will be, admits the editorialExternal link, written by the Zurich paper’s science editor, a biologist, but what is clear is that the number of infections in Switzerland has been rising again since April.

“The reason for this is new variants from the Omicron family. They have the attractive name FLiRT. However, this is the abbreviation for two new mutations that enable the viruses to infect people who have already built up a certain immunity to the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus through vaccinations and infections.”

So do we have to wear masks again? “No, a general obligation to wear masks is not necessary, the pandemic is over. The situation we have now is the new normal. The former pandemic virus Sars-CoV-2 will not disappear, it’s too adaptable for that,” the paper says.

“What we’re seeing right now is an arms race,” it explains. A virus infects people, immune systems fight back, then new variants, like FLiRT evolve that can outwit the immune systems. “We’re already familiar with this arms race from flu viruses. They, too, are constantly changing and keep bothering us,” it says.

“Nevertheless, if we have learnt anything from the pandemic, it’s certainly that masks can help to contain infections. At the recent Tour de France, for example, masks were even compulsory for people who came close to the riders. […] What made sense in the case of the Tour de France – and could probably also make sense for Olympic athletes – also applies to particularly vulnerable people, such as the chronically ill.”

The paper reminds readers that masks reduce the risk of infection, which could still lead to serious illnesses for those affected. “It’s equally sensible for ill people with cold symptoms to wear a mask to protect others – or ideally to stay at home until they are healthy again,” it advised.

“Otherwise, there’s no cause for exceptional concern. What’s more, the current infection figures are comparable to those in January, when the Covid winter wave subsided. If you still want to wear a mask, why not?”