© AFP / Fabrice CoffriniSwiss Health Minister Alain Berset speaks during a press conference on Covid-19 restrictions in Bern. December 3, 2021.
The document - which indicates whether a person has been vaccinated, tested or recovered from the coronavirus and determines entry into public venues - has been in use since July 2021. But Berset suggested on Saturday that the time may have come to do away with the system.
Comment: Unlike other countries in Europe whose politicians were much more enthusiastic in locking down their citizens, Switzerland was initially a bit more lax in its enforcement - although not as defiant as Sweden - and it may be that their system of direct democracy helped somewhat stave off the Pathocrats somewhat: Switzerland likely to hold vote on compulsory vaccination after 125,000 citizens sign petition for constitutional ban on mandates
"The certificate period seems to be almost at an end," Berset told the Schweiz am Wochenende newspaper, adding that the country looks to be "on the right track." But he warned that the "virus has shown itself to be unpredictable on several occasions."
Over the last year, protests had broken out over the certificates and other restrictions in a number of cities. But after anti-lockdown groups gathered almost 200,000 signatures to force a vote on the law, a significant majority of Swiss citizens elected in December to keep the system.
Comment: As we've seen with numerous other votes in recent times, voting will be rigged by the establishment if the issue is deemed critical enough and its known that people will vote 'the wrong way'. The claim that the 'majority' voted for restrictions contradicts another poll taken back in January 2021 whereby 55% of those polled were concerned over a loss of freedoms.
Since December 20, only those vaccinated against Covid-19 or who have recovered from an infection have been allowed to enter restaurants, cultural, sporting and leisure venues and attend indoor events. In addition, private gatherings in the country have been limited to 10 people - if there is even one person aged 16 and above present who does not have a level of either natural or vaccine-acquired immunity.
Last Wednesday, the government announced it would extend quarantine and mandatory work-from-home rules until the end of February. It also outlined tentative plans to keep other restrictions in place until March as the country fights a fifth wave of the pandemic.
Despite reports of nearly 38,000 new cases over a 24-hour period on Friday, Berset said on Saturday that the government could "transform the compulsory order to work from home into a recommendation, and end quarantines" if the situation improves over the next few weeks.
On the comment about the IRS requiring taxpayers to submit a picture with their tax returns there are several problems. It would violate discrimination laws, since audits could be flagged based on one's skin color, so its flatly unconstitutional. On a more practical note, it only applies for "online" filers - so many who do their own tax returns will simply file paper returns. Perhaps the IRS wants to receive paper returns to slow filings down, since the withholding tables are rigged to have too much tax withheld, and most are owed refunds.