Corona curfew in Zug to stay at 7 pm until 4th January

A menacing situation, with high case numbers: the authorities in Zug will not be considering  a later curfew at 11 p.m. before the beginning of January. The gastro scene is shocked. But there is hope on another front.

The Federal Council has switched off the lights nationwide, closing restaurants, shops and saunas even before the main edition of the "Daily News (Tagesschau)" has started on the TV. And this also applies in Zug.

As the Health Directorate announced on Friday evening after a government meeting, the canton does not meet the criteria for a curfew until 11 p.m.: the reproduction value has not been consistently below 1.00 for the last seven days, meaning that one Corona infected person infecting more than one other person in average. The number of infections in Zug is also not below the average of the Swiss cantons.

Daily deaths due to Covid-19
The situation remains threatening, write the authorities. The number of cases has stagnated for weeks "at a high level, and cannot be significantly reduced". During the past four weeks, one person with Covid-19 has died every day. And more complicated cases of infection have also been recorded among the younger generation.

As a result, the government is now ruling out any extension of the curfew until 11 p.m. before January 4. In the communication, Health Director Martin Pfister made an urgent appeal:

"If we want to return to normality soon, we need to follow the rules consistently. This is a question of solidarity."

"I received the news with dismay," says Barbara Schneider, President of Gastro Zug, on Friday afternoon, shortly after the Federal Council announced the new measures:

"Right up to the end, we’d hoped that we’d be allowed to stay open until 9 p.m.

Government announces CHF 15 million package
The restriction will apply from last Saturday until 22 January, thus impacting landlords and bar owners, as well as operators of swimming pools, tennis halls or bowling alleys in the middle of the traditionally lucrative Christmas business.

But there is a sign of hope. The Zug government has announced that it will increase the hardship programme. "In order to provide financial support to the business community of Zug, and in particular to companies in the fields of gastronomy, leisure and sport, the Government Council (Regierungsrat) is requesting an additional global loan (Rahmenkredit) of a maximum of CHF 15 million from the cantonal council (Kantonsrat)," reads a statement from the Department of Finance.

The hurdles for hardship funds are lower
The cantonal parliament will decide on the request next Thursday. On 26^th November, the Council had already discussed a framework loan of CHF 66.1 million, with CHF 6 million francs as non-repayable loans (fonds perdue) and CHF 60.1 million for standard loans.

No one in Parliament is fundamentally opposed to these measures. Criticism has now been levelled, however, at the hurdles set for hardship payments: 40% loss of sales must be able to be proven by anyone hoping for hardship support. The CHF 15 million programme requires less. According to the government, the condition now is that this year's turnover must be below 80% of the average annual turnover for 2018 and 2019, and that this difference is "related to government-ordered measures to combat the Covid 19 epidemic."