Messages posted by : SwingBeep
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The last incident that I can recall in Austria concerned Belgium and German coach tour operators who were bringing in their own ski instructors.
The Anwärter training courses run by the 'foreign' ski schools last up to 6 weeks whereas the Anwärter training courses run by the Tyrolean Ski Instructors Association only last 10 days. According to Christian Abenthung the managing director of the Tyrolean Ski Instructors Association, ski instructor training is solely a matter for the ski instructors association of the respective federal state (Land) and if someone is training to be a ski instructor, it should be a logical prerequisite that that person can ski well enough to begin the training. Anyone who first needs an expensive private course in order to acquire the necessary skills is completely unsuitable for the job from the start. Because the performance improvement parts of these instructor training courses have nothing to do with the official training courses, they are regarded as being no more than normal skiing performance improvement courses. According to the Austrian COVID-19 ordinance, these are currently only allowed for small groups of people who come from the same household. |
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I don't think its anything to do with Brexit, one of the 2 ski schools named in the article that appeared in the Tiroler Tageszeitung is Danish and the other is registered in state of Salzburg, but is owned by foreigners, so it looks like that they are suspected of breaching Tyrolian law. I think each region has its own ski school laws, Tyrol certainly does. As the financial police are also involved tax fraud, social fraud, the violation of labour rights and employment regulations might also be involved.
Under normal circumstances this would have probably gone unnoticed, it involves the provision of pre-instructor training courses. The skiing performance of many foreign skiers who want to take the "Anwärter" exams is inadequate so they have to be trained up first. These courses are said to be very lucrative; the Tyrolian Ski Instructors Association doesn't provide them. There is a saying here in the German speaking part of canton Valais "The oldest Walliser is the wind, the second oldest is envy!" Ignorance is also not a defence in law in Switzerland. If the public prosecutor does decide to prosecute him, I would imagine he would make sure that all his ducks were in a row first. A criminal conviction might be the least of his worries as a criminal conviction would make it much easier for injured parties to pursue him through the civil courts, but as he is a foreign national there might be practical issues with that. |
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During investigations into the COVID-19 outbreak in Jochberg the Tyrolean Ski Instructors Association discovered that around 30 foreign ski schools were operating illegally. The ski instructors' association has announced that it will file administrative charges against the ski schools concerned. In addition, they are also going to report the instructors concerned to the financial police, because they not registered Tyrol.
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The B.1.1.7 variant has now been discovered in St. Moritz, the guests and staff in 2 hotels have been put in to quarantine. The ski schools in St. Moritz have also been closed. Starting tomorrow, mass testing of St Moritz's population will be carried out.
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Your welcome J2SkiNews. It does seem strange, the only reason I can think of is that the Hotel Victoria-Lauberhorn is quite large, it has 120 rooms and 3 restaurants that in normal times seat 420 people. Maybe they didn't notice that he left his room.
Also if you look at the hotel's COVID-19 action plan there is no mention of a procedure for quarantining a guest. There is also no mention of quarantine in the COVID-19 hygiene and protection concepts designed by the hotel industries trade association HotellerieSuisse on which their plan based. It is therefore possible that they didn't have had a procedure in place for quarantining a guest. |
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J2SkiNews, with few exceptions Switzerland's strict privacy laws prevent the media from publishing the names of people suspected, accused and convicted of committing criminal offences.
Iainm, the exchange between a journalist and Linda Nartey about the British tourist in Wengen starts at 1:17:15. The Corona virus press conferences are also recorded in live tickers, the quote I posted is a translation of a quote that appeared in one of the tickers. The information I provided in my previous posts is from official sources, Linda Nartey is a high ranking official https://www.gef.be.ch/gef/de/index/direktion/organisation/kaza.html the press release was issued by her department https://www.gef.be.ch/gef/de/index/direktion/organisation/kaza/aktuell.meldungNeu.html/portal/de/meldungen/mm/2021/01/20210112_1337_informationen_fuerdiebevoelkerungunddiegaestevonwengenundumgebun the link to the pdf is at the bottom of the page, it cannot be compared with what appeared in the press about the supposed British exodus from Verbier. No official information about the situation in Valais was published until 30 December, when the Valais Cantonal Police issued a press report https://www.policevalais.ch/communiques-pour-les-medias/valais-bilan-intermediaire-de-lengagement-des-forces-de-police-durant-les-fetes-de-fin-dannee/ The 12 people found to have not complied with the quarantine order have now been reported to the public prosecutor. Further details about the incident in Wengen have now been reported in the Swiss press, see the last section in this article: https://www.bluewin.ch/de/news/schweiz/wengen-forscht-nach-der-britischen-virus-mutation-536357.html "Britischer Tourist hielt sich nicht an Quarantäneregeln……" British tourist did not comply with quarantine rules It is highly probable that all 70 infections in Wengen were directly or indirectly caused by a British tourist. He is said to be a 50 year old man who checked into the Hotel Victoria-Lauberhorn shortly before Christmas and unknowingly spread the mutated pathogen in the ski resort. However, the Briton is also said not to have immediately complied with the quarantine regulations that applied to him. According to the "Tages-Anzeiger", the man left his room and ate in the hotel restaurant. It was only after he tested positive on 27 December that he remained in quarantine. But before that, he changed hotels once more. The virus reached the Wengen ski club via one of the hotel employees or his daughter. Further measures in Wengen depend on the results from the test centre. Up to 100 rapid tests per hour are to be carried out for a fortnight. Should the numbers continue to explode, Nartey said the closure of the ski slopes or even a curfew would be conceivable. Sonofapreacher,the B.1.1.7 variant was first identified in England on 20 September 2020, it quickly became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in England. I don't think there is much doubt about where it originated. It may well become the dominant variant circulating in other countries, in which case even more rigorous mitigation measures will have to be put in place. |
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Have you any evidence that this is the case? It is highly unlikely that the Cantonal Medical Officer for Canton Berne would have said "The regulation was clear: The super spreader from Great Britain in Wengen should have gone into quarantine, but disregarded this regulation. He only went into quarantine later." in a Federal Office of Public Health Corona virus press conference that was streamed live to the Swiss public. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3exlYTjGNM
Bear in mind that the Swiss authorities obtained the passenger lists from the airlines and if he had a mobile phone they will also know when and where it connected to the Swiss cellular network when he crossed the border. Canton Berne is absolutely certain that he was the source and have issued a press release (in English) stating this: https://www.be.ch/portal/de/index/mediencenter/medienmitteilungen.assetref/dam/documents/portal/Medienmitteilungen/de/2021/01/2021-01-12-gsi-Mitteilung%20an%20die%20Bev%C3%B6lkerung-Wengen-englisch.pdf If he did arrive before the 14th and can prove it he should inform the cantonal authorities asap. If the Swiss authorities decide to prosecute him it will likely be a lengthy and expensive business. The Swiss and UK governments signed a bilateral police agreement in December so the UK police might also be involved. |
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As you would expect there are factual issues with article in the Sun. If you want to get some idea of what went on paste the link from my post above or this one https://www.vienna.at/tirol-britische-skilehrer-waren-eher-skischueler/6863669 into Google translate.
The Austrian authorities are concerned that the British skiers in Jochberg might have brought the B.1.1.7 variant into the region, hence the mass testing program. Over the next few days, 62,000 people from the Kitzbühel district are to be asked to take COVID-19 tests. https://www.tt.com/artikel/30773271/pcr-proben-aus-jochberg-ausgewertet-bisher-vier-positive-ergebnisse The Swiss authorities are so worried about the B.1.1.7 variant that they announced further nationwide measures yesterday, in spite of falling infections. https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/massnahmen-des-bundes.html |
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