The Federal Council tightened up measures on Friday. Anyone who is ill or over 65 should stay at home. Many are sticking to this, as an unrepresentative survey shows.

The Federal Council urges the population to stay at home, especially those who are ill or over 65 years of age. Only those who need to go to work or to the doctor, as well as those who need to buy food or help someone, should go outside. This is intended to protect particularly vulnerable people and to prevent overloading the intensive care units in hospitals.

If he sees people walking alone in the sun with a walking frame, then that’s fine, Daniel Koch of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) said on Saturday. “It’s even nicer when people, because they are old, do exercises in the sun on their balcony.” He does not appreciate, however, when he meets people with a walking frame in a shopping centre. “We must succeed in making it possible for these people to stay at home, so they no longer have to go shopping,” says Koch. “Because these are the people who have a very high risk – even if they still feel healthy today.”

The new measures have been in force since Friday. And they seem to be working, as an on-site inspection over the weekend showed. Only a few people were on the road and people are avoiding each other. Taking a walk and getting some fresh air is important, even for the over 65-year-olds, the group most at risk. People are grateful that the Federal Council has not imposed a curfew. As an unrepresentative survey shows, the elderly follow instructions, but not all of them have relatives or neighbours nearby who do their shopping for them. Solutions that address this issue are still needed.

BASED ON AVS/ANITA MOSER