Posted23 avril 2022, 19:57
The Confederation and the cantons disagree on who should hold the reins during a next wave of coronavirus.
If a new coronavirus outbreak were to occur, who should take the lead?
20min/David Ramseyer
For the Federal Council, one thing is clear. With the return to normal, the main responsibility for the fight once morest the coronavirus is once once more in the hands of the cantons. It has therefore drawn up a basic document defining the distribution of tasks between the Confederation and the cantons during the transition phase until spring 2023, reports the “Schweiz am Wochenende”. He thus wants to ensure that Switzerland is ready to face a next wave of the pandemic, which might once more sweep the country in the fall. According to the law on epidemics, the cantons are competent to order measures and coordinate them among themselves, underlines the Federal Council.
But the cantons see things differently. A glance at the positions taken shows this. They do not want to take unpopular measures themselves such as the compulsory wearing of masks, the closing of schools or the banning of demonstrations. On the contrary, the Confederation must intervene.
The quarrel between the Confederation and the cantons therefore continues. With one observation: since the start of the pandemic, they have rarely agreed. On the one hand, many cantons believe that the Confederation has often intervened too strongly and maintained its measures for too long. On the other hand, when the situation threatened to escalate, calls for federal assistance were legion.
(jbm)
