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Can Swiss cantons force you to send your child to school despite quarantine?

In one Swiss canton, parents could get fined if their children can't return to school because they have been on vacation in a country that Switzerland considers to be at risk of coronavirus.

Can Swiss cantons force you to send your child to school despite quarantine?
Parents of kids who miss school in St. Gallen may have to pay a fine. Photo: AFP

People who decide to vacation in a country deemed at risk must quarantine themselves for 10 days upon returning to Switzerland.

But St. Gallen parents whose children miss school because of the quarantine could face a fine of up to 1,000 francs. 

According to the canton's elementary school law, schools can charge at least 200 francs for each missed half-day of classes. The maximum fine is 1,000 francs.

What about other Swiss regions?

The Blick newspaper examined the rules of the individual cantons to find out how they would handle a similar situation.

Most cantons said they would not impose a fine.

Vaud authorities, for example, fear that such a punishment would be counterproductive.

“Sanctions could encourage parents to hide the fact that they travelled to an at-risk country, so as not to comply with the quarantine requirement,” said Julien Schekter, communications manager for the Vaud's education department.

This stance is echoed by officials in Zurich, who are concerned that a sanction could result in the spread of the virus in schools, as parents would not keep their children in quarantine.

READ MORE: Covid-19: Is Switzerland's 10-day quarantine really long enough?

The vast majority of schools surveyed by The Blick consider a student's quarantine to be a justified excused absence. This is particularly the case in Bern, Zurich, Aargau, Thurgau and Graubünden.

In Basel-City, on the other hand, an absence due to quarantine will be considered as not justified. 

Switzerland put in place a 10-day quarantine for all arrivals from countries that it considers to be 'at risk' – that is, those where the rate of coronavirus infections is high.

These countries are Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Chile, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Iraq, Israel, Qatar, Colombia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Moldova, North Macedonia, Oman, Panama, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Serbia, South Africa, Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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