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FEELING ILL? DON’T RUSH TO THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE!

The spread of coronavirus is pushing people to seek medical advice—by phone.

The Swiss government’s coronavirus hotline, run by Basel-based Medgate, has logged about 20,000 calls over the past five weeks, especially since the disease arrived in Switzerland and Italy. The service employs 45 people, including 20 new recruits to help cope with the high volume.

People are asking about the symptoms of the new coronavirus and how to deal with suspected cases as well as about the risk of infection in Switzerland, Medgate spokesperson Céline Klauser told CNNMoney Switzerland.

Telemedicine is proving to be a valuable weapon in the fight against coronavirus in Switzerland and abroad, helping to protect doctors and nurses from exposure and ease the strain on healthcare system. Both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization are encouraging the use of telehealth tools. And the Swiss government this week updated its guidelines to recommend that people call before visiting a doctor or an emergency room.

Remote consultations can prevent crowded emergency departments and waiting rooms, says Antoine Geissbühler, head of telemedicine and eHealth at Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, where some of the coronavirus tests are being conducted. “It is essential to protect caregivers who are on the front line and therefore highly exposed to the virus.”

At least 54 people have been diagnosed with the infection in Switzerland, the Swiss health department said Wednesday. Around the world, at least 93,000 cases—about 3,200 of them fatal—have been confirmed.

Health insurer SWICA says its telemedicine service santé24 is handling about 1,250 calls a day, an increase of at least 20 percent since the first reports of coronavirus in Switzerland last week.

“People who suffer from coughing or influenza want to know whether they might have been infected with the coronavirus,” said Silvia Schnidrig, a spokeswoman for SWICA. “We go through questions with our clients, which often helps to reassure them when they show no signs of an illness and there are no evident risk factors.”

Health insurer Helsana, together with 24-hour telemedicine company Medi24, received 50 percent more calls last weekend than the same time last year. Initially, most came from the canton of Ticino near the Swiss border with Italy but have since spread nationwide.

The epidemic is also spurring other health concerns. Online Doctor, a Swiss-based platform focused on dermatology, is getting bombarded with questions about skin problems from frequent handwashing, says co-founder Philipp Wustrow.

Geissbühler warns against just relying on telemedicine. People who do have symptoms of coronavirus need a proper examination. Other groups such as elderly patients, pregnant women, and those with chronic diseases “must be systematically referred to a doctor for a clinical examination.”

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Start-ups struggle to survive coronavirus
Cash-strapped start-ups that manage to stay afloat in the coming months may struggle to survive the economic aftermath of the coronavirus, says Jordi Montserrat, co-founder of Venturelab, a group that supports entrepreneurs in Switzerland. He predicts that investors will reconsider some existing projects and hold off funding for new ones.

Will hotel industry be gutted by coronavirus?
Hotels are especially exposed to the effects of coronavirus, from the spate of recent cancellations to travelers not even booking because of the current uncertainty. Ari Andricopoulos, the CEO of RoomPriceGenie, a company that helps small and medium-sized hotels price their rooms, is already feeling the pinch. “Hotel owners are fearing the worst at this stage,” he says. “There’s a good spirit of solidarity in the hotel industry, but I think we all know it’s not a good time.”

Why you can’t trust coronavirus counts
At least 613 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Switzerland, but that number isn’t a reliable measure of the outbreak. The Swiss government is abandoning efforts to keep a precise count of coronavirus cases to focus instead on easing the burden on the healthcare system and protecting the most vulnerable—the elderly and those with preexisting conditions. “The government has decided that they will only test people who are at risk, who have strong symptoms,” said Michael Hengartner, president of the ETH Board. “Young people, who might have weak symptoms, will simply be asked to stay at home to minimize contagion.” The Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne has received a recommendation from the government to limit testing to the most vulnerable or severe cases, said spokesman Markus von Rotz. “Only patients who are hospitalized and health care staff will be tested for coronavirus,” said Claude Kaufmann, a spokesman for Hirslanden Private Hospital Group, which operates 17 hospitals. “Patients with fever and cough must stay at home so that they do not infect anyone.” The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health confirmed that the cases could be far higher than reported and that “people at especially high risk are tested as a priority.“ No test, no infection This raises the question of whether the count reflects the true scale of the outbreak. Many people have been keeping tabs on the daily tally from the federal health office, relying on it to provide a measure of the severity of the situation in Switzerland. The country reported its third coronavirus death Tuesday as the outbreak worsens in neighboring Italy, which has logged over 9,000 infections and 460 deaths. It also marks a change in strategy from the early days of the outbreak, when the government ramped up testing following the first confirmed case on Feb. 25. Back then, even mild cases were being counted and traced in the effort to contain the crisis. The Swiss Federal Council said Friday that tracing the infection would continue “as long as possible.” At the same time, it indicated that protecting people by minimizing contact—at work or social events—was now the bigger priority. Large events have been banned across the country but, unlike in Italy, no blanket travel restrictions have been imposed. And the Swiss border remains open to commuters from Italy.  “With the infection rate that this virus has, it will basically cross across the human population,” Hengartner said. “It will become a pandemic. And the challenge for governments is to keep the infection rate low enough that we can always manage the patients that need to get hospitalized.”

Coronavirus shuts down Italy but Swiss border remains open
Despite a nationwide shutdown in Italy, cross-border workers are still welcome in Switzerland. CNNMoney Switzerland reports from Chiasso as the number of cases of the virus continues to grow.

Swiss border open for business
The 68,000 Italians employed in Switzerland are vital to the economy, says the president of AITI, the industry association of Ticino, which explains why the Swiss border remains open despite the lockdown in neighboring Italy.

World is losing battle to contain coronavirus, says president of ETH Board
Countries including Switzerland are abandoning efforts to keep a precise count of coronavirus cases and are focusing instead on helping hospitals cope with patient overload, says Michael Hengartner, president of the ETH Board and chairman of the Executive Committee. With a pandemic inevitable, the challenge now is to “keep the infection rate low enough that we can always manage patients that need to get hospitalized.”

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