J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

Opening was always subject to government approval. Cervinia has now updated the ticker on its home page with the new opening date "The opening of the Cervino Spa lifts is scheduled for 5th March 2021 upon confirmation by the Italian Government."

The government simply followed the opinion of the Scientific Technical Committee. "The Scientific Technical Committee's opinion is unequivocal: in the light of changed epidemiological conditions due to the widespread circulation of viral variants of the virus, at the present time the conditions do not seem to exist for further release of the current restrictive measures, including those envisaged for the amateur skiing sector." As Italy now has a technocratic government it doesn't need to worry about political fallout.

Interestingly in an interview on the Italian TV show Che Tempo Che Fa Professor Walter Ricciardi, a COVID-19 advisor to the Italian minister for health blamed Switzerland. "The country that brought the English variant into Europe is Switzerland. The British went skiing in Switzerland, a country that stubbornly kept the ski facilities open, and there a teacher then went back to school and infected practically all of her pupils"(the teacher was from Belgium). From there, according to Ricciardi, the variant spread to the rest of Switzerland and Europe. Ricciardi is also advocating a further hard lockdown, including the closure of schools.

J2SkiNews wrote:
You would just have thought the B.1.1.7 variant fears would have been known sooner?

Until recently the variants could only be identified by sequencing, which usually involves sending samples from positive tests to a separate lab. The recent introduction of PCR test kits that can also identify the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants means that these variants can now be identified when the swabs are tested. In Switzerland along with the number of positive tests we are now informed of the variants involved, of the 6003 positive tests reported over the weekend (Fri. Sat. Sun.) 2381 (ca. 40%) were identified as involving the B.1.1.7 variant. The results obtained using the new test kits give the authorities much better information about the incidence of the variants.

They are concerned about the spread of the new variants, B.1.1.7 now accounts for 18% of new infections in Italy. It is likely that the COVID-safe operating procedures do not take into account the increased transmissibility of the new variants.

According to reports in the Italian press the opening of the ski areas in Italy has been postponed until 5th March https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cronaca/2021/02/14/covid-ricciardi-chiedero-a-speranza-un-lockdown-totale_94428594-3fdd-4199-bcee-f36ad97c375d.html

The current entry restrictions are scheduled to remain in force until at least 13 March 2021:

https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/en/themen/coronavirus_in_oesterreich/pre-travel-clearance.html

As the B.1.1.7 variant is expected to become widespread in February and March. It is likely that the current entry restrictions will be extended.

The lift companies are currently losing money hand over fist, turnover is reported to be down by 50-70%, if the hotels, restaurants etc. aren't able to open soon its likely that they will have to close as well.

Just as well they only made it to Vallorcine! The Swiss Federal Council banned the entry of travellers from the UK at 1pm on Monday 21 December, if you were already in the Schengen area at that time you could continue your journey.

Therefore, with very few exceptions it is currently illegal for people traveling from the UK to enter Switzerland. Anyone caught doing so could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and anyone assisting someone to cross the border in pursuit of financial gain could get up to 5 years.

According to the canton's press release of 12 January (see link in earlier post) there were 60 cases between 14 Dec and 10 Jan. Mass testing (results in table above) started on 13 Jan and is I think due to run until the 24 Jan, which fits with the table, up to 17 Jan it was reported to have turned up 7 infections.

I don't know if the results from the tests on the armed and civil defence forces personnel are also include in the figures above and we also don't know how many of the people who were on holiday in Wengen over Christmas / New Year and subsequently returned home became infected.

On the whole it looks like the measures put in place to control the outbreak in Wengen largely worked and mass testing has mopped up the last few cases. If the super spreader had gone into and remained in quarantine as required all of this could probably have been avoided.

During yesterday's Corona virus press conference, Guy Parmelin the Swiss President said "Heute haben wir doppelt so viele Coronavirus-Mutationsfälle wie vor einer Woche". Today we have twice as many coronavirus mutation cases as a week ago. It is expected that the B.1.1.7 variant will soon become the dominant variant circulating in Switzerland.

The number of new infections in canton Valais has doubled since Monday! According to the canton, many of the positive samples are currently being sequenced to find out how quickly the new variants are spreading in Valais.

Another outbreak of B.1.1.7 involving 13 employees at the Hotel Royalp in Villars-sur-Ollon was reported this evening.

Switzerland has banned the entry of tourists from the UK. If you are allowed in and are not on a very short list of people who are exempt you will have to go into quarantine for 10 days. https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home/sem/aktuell/einreiseverbot-uk-za.html this information is also mirrored on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/switzerland

These measures will likely stay in place until the COVID-19 14-day incidence rate in the UK falls to 60 new infections per 100,000.

There are also restrictions on travel to France https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/coronavirus-advice-for-foreign-nationals-in-france/ https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france

Just because J2SkiNews posts that ski resorts in a particular country are open or that the authorities in another are planning to open them on a certain date doesn't mean that you will be able to travel to them.

It is the responsibility of the individual concerned to go quarantine and stay there until the 10 days is up, this is clearly stated in English on the Federal Office of Public Health website https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/empfehlungen-fuer-reisende/quarantaene-einreisende.html I don't see how the hotel could be culpable, hotel staff have no legal authority to ensure that a person remains in quarantine. The enforcement of quarantine is the responsibility of the cantonal authorities.

The date that he arrived in the resort isn't really important, if he arrived in Switzerland after 14 December then he should have automatically gone into quarantine. If he arrived before that date and came into contact with an infected person he would also have been required to go into quarantine.

Thanks very much for the compliment. I wouldn't go as far as saying my information is excellent, it mainly comes from the Swiss press and is by no means as clear or as comprehensive as I would like, but it is perhaps a bit more accurate than what appears in the British press. The story in the Sun about the trainee ski instructors in Jochberg holding wild parties turned out to be a compete fabrication.

It was announced today that 90 members of the Swiss army who were helping to setup the race courses at Wengen have had to go into quarantine, the time they have to spend in quarantine might not count as part of their military service so they probably won't be best pleased.

Media attention has now moved to St Moritz, where there has been an outbreak of the 'South African' variant B.1.351 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-moritz/swiss-ski-resort-st-moritz-quarantines-hotels-shuts-schools-to-contain-covid-variant-idUSKBN29N0DB