Swiss government shuts down public life amid spreading coronavirus

[BlueMTexpat]

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/covid-19_switzerland-declares-coronavirus-crisis-an--extraordinary--situation/45620148

Last Wed, I flew to Barcelona, Spain to meet some US friends who were visiting Spain and spend a few days there. We had a lovely night Wed and had some of the best tapas I have ever eaten.

At the time, there were reports of COVID-19 in Madrid and the Basque regions, a couple cases in Barcelona, but most of the disease seemed to have been contained to a hotel in the Canary Islands with mostly British tourists.

Unfortunately, on returning to our hotel Wed eve, I received an email that the concert we had booked at the Palau de la Musica for Friday night had been cancelled and that I was due a refund for the tickets I had purchased for the three of us.

What we were fortunate enough to miss Wed night was 45's bungled coronavirus speech, which managed to duly terrify our friends and relatives in the US, who immediately thought that US citizens would be caught up in the ban Idiotic Dear Leader announced. This was, of course, somewhat clarified later, but a LOT of US citizens in Europe apparently panicked. What a total Doofus Idiotic Dear Keader is!

After calming ourselves and our respective close ones somewhat, on Thurs, we visited la Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece, and enjoyed our stroll through the city. We also took a pedicab to the beach, after a highly entertaining tour of other parts of the city, and enjoyed some excellent paella there. We were too tired to go out again and my companions spent some time informing friends and relatives once again that we were all fine. Since we had received no word from our respective airlines about our scheduled departures, we decided to wait and see what would happen. We were all scheduled to leave for Switzerland on Sunday in any event.

On Friday, we received word that many Barcelona attractions would be closed. We had, however, booked a tour to Montserrat and it went as scheduled - very worth while, in fact. We were able to visit the monastery and its museum, ride the funicular, and have an excellent meal before returning to Barcelona. Of course, Friday night, all heck broke loose, with Spain declaring a national emergency, and even Switzerland declaring that it would reintroduce passport controls.

On Saturday, ALL Barcelona attractions that required tickets were closed. Period. We took a stroll along Las Ramblas, along with other disappointed visitors, visited la Boqueria, and took various photographs. We returned to the hotel in the late afternoon and stayed on the terrace where we had room service and drinks, again using the opportunity to reassure anxious loved ones.

I left as scheduled on Sunday morning and found that passport controls had not yet begun in Switzerland. I received word from my friends that their flight had been delayed. As it happened, it arrived an hour later than scheduled. There were still no passport controls, although I understand that they are in effect now.

My friends and I are mostly staying put, although we did go into my little village center yesterday morning. Both butcher shops were closed, but the little grocery store, pharmacy and post office were all open. Today, we traveled to one of the large shopping centers to stock up on some foodstuffs (no restaurants are open) and pharmaceuticals. There were some items that were not available, but for the most part the large supermarket there was well stocked. In fact, it was surreal to see the extravagant displays of Easter chocolates there.

My friends have since received word that their airline will cease flying to and from Switzerland from Mar 20 on. Their return flight is scheduled for Mar 19 and looks to be no problem, so they are keeping their fingers crossed. They hope that the screening in the US is going much more smoothly by now.

We have an apartment full of books, subscriptions to Netflix and Amazon Prime in addition to my multitude of local cable offerings, which include several British channels. Most importantly, we have plenty of wine.

We are all retirees and are so much more fortunate than most. We realize that and appreciate it.

I will be remaining here as usual because I reside here. As we have all most likely been exposed, we will likely get the virus. But for the moment, we are all in good health. If this was my last hurrah, it was still worth it.

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Switzerland is particularly affected by the coronavirus epidemic. More than 2,600 people have been infected in the country and almost 20 people have died.

The government banned all private and public events starting at midnight on March 17. It also ordered the closure of bars, restaurants, sports facilities and cultural spaces. Only businesses providing essential goods to the population – such as grocery stores, bakeries, pharmacies, banks and post offices – are to remain open.

“We know that this decision disrupts the daily life of our country,” said Interior Minister Alain Berset, warning that the situation would get worse before it gets better.

The new measures are in place until April 19.
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