Trade association calls for end to lockdown

Hans-Ulrich Bigler, Managing Director of the Swiss Trade Association sgvThe situation is bleak and we urgently need a perspective. There is a growing lack of understanding of the measures taken so far to combat the pandemic. There is too much focus on the worst possible scenarios, the current lockdown is based on false evidence, and there is too much alarmism in general, as Bigler said at a media conference on February 9, 2021. Accordingly, the demand on the Federal Council is clear: it should quickly return to the "path of proportionality". This includes an end to the lockdown on March 1, 2021, in conjunction with consistent accompanying measures such as comprehensive testing, protection of particularly vulnerable population groups, acceleration of vaccination campaigns and implementation of protection concepts in companies.

Lockdown strategy has failed

Fabio Regazzi, member of the National Council and president of the sgv, told the media that the economy could function again with the opening from March 1. The major damage caused by the lockdown could thus be contained. With the logic of targeted protection and the associated measures - vaccinations, testing and contact tracing - economic freedom could be guaranteed again and social exchange could gradually return to normal. Importantly, he said, the economy has protection concepts that include hygiene and distance measures. "These concepts are used across the board and have proven their worth, as evidenced by the FOPH's figures on infection sites," Regazzi said. At the end of his speech, the sgv president quoted SME entrepreneurs who testified to their great existential hardships. For example, a 36-year-old hotel operator from French-speaking Switzerland told him that he would need several years to recover professionally and privately. Or a sporting goods retailer from Ticino told him that currently only five of 40 employees were still working - all of them family members of the owner. The only thing this company is currently allowed to offer is ski and bicycle services. sgv Vice President André Berdoz also knows of voices "between deep disillusionment and disappointed hopes". The closure of "non-essential" areas has serious consequences for the companies affected, which have to live with the feeling that they are being denied their economic right to exist. During the first phase of the pandemic, when companies were preparing for the end of the lockdown, which lasted from mid-March to mid-April last year, they were exceptionally disciplined. The mood is different now, he said. This is shown by many voices from SMEs.

End of the lockdown or "let's get to work".

Fabio Regazzi also describes the current lockdown strategy as a failure. "SMEs need a perspective. No hopscotch and jumble of incomprehensible measures. We need a reliable exit strategy." Tomas Prenosil of Handelsverband.swiss criticized the closure of brick-and-mortar retail as having a negative effect on people. The effect of restricting mobility by closing stores is not discernible, he complained. It must therefore be a matter of learning to live with Covid. Werner Scherrer, President of the SME and Trade Association of the Canton of Zurich and himself an entrepreneur, demands: "Let us work. For many SMEs, it is now 5 to 12, waiting is no longer an option, and despair and resentment are growing. There are solutions to enable a more or less normal business life even under Covid conditions, for example by making store opening hours as flexible as possible or through private shopping: customers come to the store to store by appointment. Scherrer does not think much at all of the home office obligation: this has brought nothing at all, except costly and harassing controls. "Accordingly, the obligation must be dropped immediately," demands Scherrer. "This will give companies more room for maneuver. Individual responsibility and credible persuasion are more effective for responsible citizens than government regulations."

Smart assembly" of proven elements

With its demands for an end to the lockdown, the sgv is expressing the growing "Corona fatigue" in business and society. However, the question remains whether opening up too early does not run the risk of provoking a next wave as a result of increasing mutations. There is probably no conclusive answer to this, except, as Tomas Prenosil puts it: "We have to live with the fact that Covid will remain over a medium term. We cannot afford a medium-term lockdown. If the current situation stays any longer, the basis of our social togetherness will erode. So we need to develop strategies for how we can continue to share and, of course, protect ourselves in the process. This can be done with a good vaccination strategy, with contact tracing, with testing, with breaking peaks in traffic, and with protection concepts. The good news is: these elements are all already there. Now we just need to put them together smartly. That's exactly what we expect and demand from the government."

The demands of the sgv

In the interest of Swiss SMEs, the largest umbrella organization of the Swiss economy advocates optimal economic and political framework conditions as well as a business-friendly environment. Against this background, the sgv demands in a position paper:

• The development of reliable indicators with objective and constant thresholds that serve as the basis for evidence-based policy;
• The opening of all economic sectors from March 1, 2021, with a return to the logic of targeted protection, which is supported by targeted testing and protection concepts;
• The strengthening of the vaccination program with binding information on its implementation;
• The interruption of infection chains with targeted contact tracing;
• The implementation of accompanying measures such as the abolition of the home office obligation, partial openings and flexibilization by March 1, 2021;
• Addressing gaps in the hardship regime and its rapid implementation;
• A digitization push in the federal administration and in the healthcare sector; because many of these demands can be implemented digitally in a simple and cost-effective manner.

More information: https://www.sgv-usam.ch/