Coronavirus in Geneva
At least twenty people who attended Rooftop 42 on the evening of Saturday July 18 have tested positive for covid-19. A client testifies.
The terrace of Rooftop 42, located on the 8th floor of the building at 42 rue du Rhône.
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One of the Geneva Covid-19 clusters was Rooftop 42, a dance bar on rue du Rhône. Among the people who tested positive last week (151 between Tuesday and Friday), a significant number were part of a group of around thirty friends who attended the premises on Saturday 18. One of them was declared ill. Tuesday. “On Monday, several of my friends felt bad. We all went to get tested. In any case, twenty of us are positive, others are still waiting for the result. ”
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The man said he was embarrassed that night. “The employees did not have a mask. On the terrace, we couldn’t move because there were so many people. The drink made people forget the barrier gestures. It wasn’t serious, I only stayed for an hour and a half. ” His only case resulted in the quarantine of thirty of his relatives (other than those present on the 18th), he explains. “I was at another birthday on Friday and had a family reunion on Sunday.” He also notes that some of his friends accompanying him to Rooftop 42 came from German Switzerland, where they tested positive on their return.
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Staff renewed at 100%
Founder of the place, Sébastien Barras confirms having been warned on Wednesday by the cantonal doctor’s service of cases in the bar. “We immediately put all the staff in quarantine to renew it 100%.” Wearing a mask was imposed on him. For the rest, he assures us that hydroalcoholic gel and customer tracing have always been the rule. Noting that it is impossible to know where the patients were infected, he judges that closing the festive places could be counterproductive, the revelers finding themselves out of control. “With tracing, we can limit breakage. But the best solution would still be for customers to wear a mask. ”
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Five festive places identified
Spokesman for the Department of Health, Laurent Paoliello does not comment on specific cases. On the other hand, he explains that it is precisely because of this type of incident that on Friday, the Council of State toughened health measures. Having then identified five festive places as recent sources of contamination, he had made compulsory (with sanction in the event of non-compliance) the wearing of masks for the waiters, the application of hydroalcoholic gel at the entrance of establishments and the tracing of clients. “It is not for nothing that we have taken this type of measure. Private protection plans were no longer respected by many. We went very quickly. ”
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Threatened groups
The government does not intend to close the establishments for the time being, without ruling out this outcome. “The option is really on the table if the curve does not bend in ten days”, the delay effect necessary to observe the effectiveness of a decision, given the incubation times. Laurent Paoliello also notes that if the establishments play along, the status quo is “the least bad solution, because if groups are found in nature, then any tracing becomes impossible”. The only option, in this case, would be to ban mergers again.
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The spokesperson also indicates that a resurgence of the epidemic would de facto lead to the closure of certain establishments, since as soon as an employee is sick, the State places his colleagues in quarantine. If the structure does not have a sufficient stock of replacements, it is therefore forced to temporarily cease activity.
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The epidemic continues to progress in Geneva. Laurent Paoliello reports more than forty new cases on Saturday, and past thirty Sunday at noon. After family surveys, on average, between three and ten people per patient are placed in strict quarantine by the cantonal doctor’s service. “Between yesterday and today (editor’s note: Saturday and Sunday), 250 new quarantines have been decreed.” In total, more than 1,200 Genevans were placed in quarantine on Sunday, according to the following ratio: one third of relatives of patients, two thirds of return from a country at risk.
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