Snow Sports, Ski Resorts, and Superspreaders: the Swiss Faith in Personal Responsibility
Despite heavy criticism from its alpine neighbours, Switzerland went against the tide and decided to go ahead with its famed ski season. In an effort to push for a Europe-wide cancellation of ski- and snow sports events, Italy, Germany, and France launched the crusade to enforce this agreement. Yet Switzerland and Austria have refused to play ball and ski slopes and lifts remain open. Although many strict hygiene measures have been put into place, such as the banning of après-ski events and closure of most restaurants, a 20Minutes news article from the 20th of January reported on the story of a Belgian woman who put 5,000 people in quarantine after a series of unfortunate infections. She obtained the new virus variant from a Swiss ski resort. Additionally, a ski lift operator in Bergün was recently let go for his comments to the media about the health dangers and willful circumventing of safety measures he witnessed in action.
As of mid January, all non-essential shops in Switzerland have been forced to shut. Secondary education alongside most places of work have been placed back in the hands of the virtual medium. The ability for each Kanton to make their own decisions about measures has been temporarily revoked yet again, as it was March 2020, and the reins have been handed back to the Federal Council, the Bundesrat. Yet since the beginning of the lockdown, ski slopes remained open. With the promise that the resorts were safe, the Swiss population was reassured this nationally important pastime could still take place. The amount of value placed on the ‘Swiss lifestyle’ has led to a baffling conflict between Covid-induced restraint and culture — where culture has emerged victorious with the help of Swiss policy.
In an incident that attracted international media attention, British skiers in Switzerland were suddenly forced to quarantine in their hotels after the new variant caused widespread panic; even if they had already been out skiing. Most Swiss nationals did not feel very sympathetic. In their view, it’s their obligation not to travel internationally let alone stay in a resort during the pandemic. Of course, the emergence of the new variant could not have been predicted by anyone, yet the Swiss were extremely critical during this time.
My very first thought was one aligned with the fundamental Swiss approach to the pandemic: “sälber schuld”. Translating roughly to “your own fault”, throughout the entire COVID-19 era Switzerland has pushed the policy of personal responsibility, known locally as “selbstverantwortung”. The Swiss population is expected to use their better judgment on whether or not they should do things, based on their own unique circumstances and values. Furthermore, they themselves are entrusted to maintain adequate hygiene, distance, and common sense. This allows those who would perhaps turn to riskier methods of doing things the virus has thwarted in a safer, more contained manner. Switzerland has been the centre for criticism even in the early days of the pandemic, as a strong sense of personal freedoms made the government hesitant to enforce any truly restrictive measures, such as curfew or even banning private gatherings. The Swiss are a stubborn folk; even now the wording of many of the restrictions are simply “recommendations”. With personal freedoms came personal responsibilities. For the Swiss, this is what separated them from the British skiers.
The Swiss tourism industry relies heavily on its winter season. Estimated to produce around 5 Billion Francs in revenue, winter tourism can be responsible for 10% of some mountainous Canton’s GDP. And as a result of devastating losses in tourism revenue they were not about to let their only chance of recovering some of that lost revenue go. But the choice to allow the slopes to remain open goes beyond purely economic reasonings. Skiing is essentially a cultural practice, in the same way that yodeling or ‘schwingen’ wrestling is.
“In summer, we had the feeling that the worst was over.” affirmed health minister Alain Berset, “[…] The Swiss way has a price. It requires personal responsibility, reason and foresight from everyone”.
It’s not necessarily that the “Swiss way” did not work. Whilst Switzerland was hard hit by the first wave, it was able to recover quickly and successfully, with most venues reopening by June. In a move that now seems frustratingly irresponsible, the Bundesrat allowed for events of up to 1000 people to be resumed. Among those were nightclubs, which led to the quarantine of 300 partygoers in one unlucky event. There is an astounding amount of trust in the country’s population to be sensible. And this trust was not entirely misplaced, as the first wave indicated. But with over 9,200 deaths in a country of 8.6 Million, Switzerland has not escaped the pandemic especially lightly. In November of 2020, the rate of positive PCR test results was approximately 30%. As of February 25th, the positive test rate fluctuates between 6% and 12%, depending on the source. The United Kingdom’s percentage for the same time frame was 5%.
Personal responsibility as a covid measure has always been rather flawed. Because it worked so well in the summer period, the Bundesrat assumed the Swiss mentality could withstand the challenges posed by the unpredictable circumstances we find ourselves in. Even when they had to increasingly reintroduce measures throughout October until the end of the year, their confidence was not shaken enough to reconsider the matter of traditional Swiss cultural endeavours. The BAG had to plead its citizens to stop communal singing, an aspect of Swiss culture that is so historically and culturally significant, in most situations outside the immediate household. After a yodel-musical in Kanton Schwyz in late September caused a massive outbreak, the government may have realized that they needed to take some action on cultural activities. Therefore, it is no surprise that they pulled every string to let people ski: in a 2020 study, it was shown more of the Swiss population ski than they jog at 34.9% to 27.0%. “The country that brought the British variant to Europe is Switzerland” accused Italian covid taskforce head Walter Ricciardi. He blamed Swiss ski resorts.
The ski situation goes far beyond luring winter tourists into the country to spend big on a Swiss holiday. It goes beyond a promise of something normal in such a tumultuous time. It is a manifestation of a mentality built on preserving Swiss cultural values that could not survive an increasingly hostile environment. “Selbstverantwortung” absolves the government from the duty to protect its citizens whilst declaring themselves to be the bringers of liberty in a time where so much has been taken from us. Now that non-essential retail and youth sport activities have reopened we will see if personal responsibility might work best alongside the vaccine. The restrictions are set to be gradually lifted from the 1st of March onwards, with a special mention in the infographics for singing and skiing rules. Whether in lockdown or not, Swiss social media is filled with patrons enjoying the heavy snowfall in the Alps as if the pandemic were simply a thing of the past. For the sacred Swiss way, it might as well be.
