Switzerland's Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

Switzerland, a wealthy and multilingual nation (8.6 million population) with private universal health insurance (UHI) by federal mandate, is known for its decentralized federalism, direct democracy and comparatively high level of trust in its governments, healthcare system and medical profession. Covid-19 prevalence varies between the most affected cantons – Italian-speaking Ticino and French-speaking Geneva and Vaud – and the less affected German-speaking cantons (Covid-19-CH, 2020). Given Switzerland’s institutional context and regional variation, we present a brief chronology of the federal government’s response to the pandemic and our preliminary assessment.