A week ago the canton announced that because of low demand they were going to close the drive in test centres, a week later people are complaining that they can’t get any appointments for tests anywhere. It seems that many are hoping to get away for the Easter holidays and need that negative PCR to be able to travel. We already published a list of places to get tested for traveling purposes and here is a link to all the places you could get a test for any reason. Make sure to book for an appointment first. The canton has stated that they are going to expand the offer so that we can follow the health department’s call to test, test, test.
Did you sign up to get vaccinated? If yes, then you have been receiving periodic text messages telling you that you are still on the waiting list and will be informed when an appointment will be available. According to the cantonal website unless you have a preexisting condition the earliest available dates will be in June.
With regards to a vaccine pass the Swiss way may just be the wrong way. Having set up an online portal for people to enter whether they have been vaccinated in view of creating a digital passport, (meineimpfung.ch) the government had to shut it down when it was revealed how easy it was to breach security and gather the uploaded confidential patients’ data.
On the bright side, Switzerland came out 4th in the Gallup Happiest Countries in the World report which is published every year. Finland came out first followed by Denmark and Iceland. This year’s report did take the Covid-19 pandemic into account and found that countries that trust their governments tended to deal with the pandemic better than those who distrust any governmental organisations. For those who like long reads here is the full report.
