Although number of cases are going up again (2727 yesterday) and a fifth of them are the new variant, the government has decided against impleting any new measures, specifically the closing of schools. This although the number of cases amongst pupils continue to grow. The government has put in place a sliding scale of phases to measure the severety of the situation. Currently the whole country is in phase 6, which calls for children in secondary schools to wear masks, phase 7 (where Basel now is) calls for children from year 5 and up to wear masks, only when we reach phase 9 would there be talks of closing all schools. However it is up to each canton to make the decision whether to close schools or not beforehand, such as the canton of St Gallen which has sent all its students in secondary school level 2 into home schooling starting February 1st.
Meanwhile there is a second debate as to which masks offer the best protection and whether we should all switch to FFP2 masks or not. On the 29th of January the Swiss Norm for community masks will be realeased so that people know whether the cloth masks they are currently wearing are actually effective. Austria is making its citizens wear the FFP2 masks in public spaces and transport as of January 25th.
If you like Ikea’s Knäckerbrot Flerkorn and bought it prior to December 18, you may want to check the sell by date. If it’s the 31. March 2021 you should return it to Ikea as it contains Ethylenoxid in it, which is a component harmful to your health.
The only way you can eat in a restaurant nowadays is if you stay in the hotel it belongs to. Some mebers of the Fasnacht Zunft zum Safran chose this solution to host their tradition of eating “Fritschipastete” on January 16. Normally an event for 450 people this year, they offered a drive by service where people could pick their “Fritschipastete” and eat it at home, but some (around 35) decided to go to the Hotel de la Paix and eat theirs in the Restaurant “Le Lapin”. They were allowed to do so as they spent the night in the hotel. If it’s okay for them then it’s okay for us? Might be an expensive night out though…
