There are a million questions that come up during an international move, and one of the most pressing for families is: Where do I send my kids to school? This is no simple question. Finding and vetting schools and arranging enrollment can be a challenge, and the choice of a school can shape a family’s social life and cultural adjustment.
Canton Suspends Phys Ed; Curfew Closes Bars & Restaurants; Begging Ban Discussed Again
News For 27 October 2020
Basel Stadt's health department announced last week that 30 children enrolled in the public school system tested positive for Coronavirus, resulting in the quarantine of more than 300 people. As a result, Basel public school systems have cancelled physical education classes fearing that the changing rooms, and close contact between participating children was the primary catalyst for the outbreak. Furthermore, children will be required to wear masks now at all times while in attendance. Schools are working on alternatives for the time kids had been spending in the gym, including outdoor activities.
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In addition to a host of mandates coming from the Swiss Federal Office For Public Health last Friday, Basel-Stadt also imposed a curfew of 11:00pm for all bars and restaurants. Unfortunately for proprietors of the affected establishments, the curfew went into effect the next day leaving them little time to anticipate operating changes. Large operators, like Bar Rouge, have announced via their website that they will remain closed now, until further notice. Further, they added that it is impossible for them to operate economically when having to shut their doors by 11:00pm. The economic carnage could not have come at a worse time or the affected establishments which rely heavily on holiday bookings by corporate clients and large groups.
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Last Wednesday, the Grand Council of Basel Stadt referred a motion to the government to reintroduce a ban on begging in the streets of the city. Led by SVP Grand Councillor, Joel Thuringia set forth a motion on Wednesday evening to reintroduce the ban. The amount of beggars in Basel-Stadt has increased rapidly since July when a revision to the criminal code prohibited only "group based begging". The Basel SVP has called it an intolerable situation and went further to claim that all beggars were members of Eastern European gangs. However, the identity or nationality of beggars are not easily determined.