Executive Summary

Covid-19 infections in Switzerland peaked in late March and began to steadily decline by the second week of April. The infection rate has remained very low since late April, and by early June Switzerland was cited as the “world’s safest country” in a comprehensive study published by the non-profit Deep Knowledge Group.

“Switzerland and Germany achieve the #1 and #2 positions in this new special case study specifically because of their economy’s resilience, and due to the careful ways in which they are attempting to relax lockdown and economic freezing mandates in a fact and science-based manner, without sacrificing public health and safety,” said the study.

Track the latest Covid-19 statistics for Switzerland here.

The Swiss federal government urges citizens to remain vigilant despite the improved situation, and the following prohibitions and obligations currently apply throughout the country:

• Masks are compulsory on public transport and at demonstrations.
• Gatherings of more than 1000 people are banned.
• Quarantines are required for travelers from countries with a high risk of infection
• Businesses, public buildings, and gatherings are subject to precautionary measures.

The federal government has also made the following recommendations to prevent the further spread of the virus:

• Observe a distance of at least 1.5 meters whenever possible.
• Wear a mask if this distance cannot be observed.
• Practice good hand hygiene.
• Get tested if you have any symptoms. (The federal government assumes all testing costs as long as the Federal Office of Public Health’s criteria are met.)
• Provide contact data to allow for tracing.
• Observe the rules on isolation or quarantine.

For the latest updates about the Covid-19 situation in Switzerland, consult the Federal Office of Public Health’s website.

We have developed a plan to keep our community safe and healthy while also keeping our boarding program fully operational during the continuing pandemic. Each year we welcome students from approximately 60 nations, and this year many students will be arriving from countries or regions that the Swiss government has designated as being “at high-risk.” These students will be subject to a mandatory 10-day quarantine upon their arrival in Switzerland, and we are now asking them to arrive on August 24 or August 25. All other boarding students are expected to arrive on September 5 or September 6. 

All of our quarantine, testing, and tracing plans have been designed with two broad goals in mind:

1. It is imperative that all our students arrive to a safe campus.
2. We have a responsibility to our school community and to the local Swiss community that we do not import cases of the virus to Ticino.

Testing 

All boarding students will be tested for Covid-19 soon after their arrival to campus. They will be administered both a nasopharyngeal test (RT-PCR) and a serology test at our on-campus testing facility in accordance with a plan developed for TASIS by Dr. Vincenzo Liguori with input from the Swiss Medical Network. Test results will be available within the same day in most cases, and we will inform families of the results immediately.

Our on-campus Health Center will be staffed with three full-time health professionals throughout the entire quarantine period, and we will have an isolation facility adjacent to campus for any students showing symptoms or testing positive for the virus.

The isolation facility will have 24-hour care provided by InterNursing and sCuDo, highly respected Swiss organizations that specialize in selecting and placing healthcare workers in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and senior residences.

Quarantine

As mentioned above, boarding students coming from high-risk countries* are asked to arrive in Switzerland on August 24 or August 25. We will assist them with safe transport from their arrival point, and they will then be quarantined on our spacious campus for a 10-day period. All meals and daily activities will take place on the main TASIS campus, which will be reserved exclusively for students observing the quarantine from August 24–September 4. Boarding students who do not require quarantine are expected to arrive on September 5 or September 6.

The quarantined students will be housed in single rooms in our dormitories for the duration of the quarantine period and will remain isolated while they await the results of their Covid-19 test. Once they have been confirmed negative for Covid-19, our intention is that they will be able to enjoy supervised access to our campus facilities. We are currently in conversation with cantonal health authorities and are optimistic that this will be the case. Assuming that we receive approval from the canton, students will eat their meals in the Villa de Nobili dining hall and participate in safe and fun activities on campus that will be coordinated by our dedicated Residential Life team. While stringent safety measures will of course be in place, we are certain these students will be very comfortable.

All quarantined students will move from their temporary single rooms to their permanent rooms over the weekend of September 5–6, as our remaining boarding students arrive. There will be a maximum of two students per room for the duration of the 2020–2021 academic year.

* The list of high-risk countries is subject to change, and we will notify any affected families if new countries are added. Please also note that we will continue to observe all Swiss safety guidelines and may need to make adjustments to our quarantine protocols as the current situation evolves.

Tracking and Tracing

As noted above, all activities and meals for all quarantined students will be limited to our main campus. Students observing the quarantine will have limited contact with one another, always following the current federal guidelines for social distancing and mask usage. To facilitate our tracking and tracing processes, students will be separated into identifiable groups and will only interact with fellow members of their group.

It is important to reiterate that our quarantined students will not have any contact with boarding students who are not quarantining or with members of our day student population for the duration of the quarantine period. Quarantined students will have limited contact with members of the TASIS staff, who will model proper social distancing and mask usage as necessary.

To complement our tracking and tracing efforts, all TASIS students and employees will be strongly encouraged to download the Swiss Covid-19 App upon their arrival. We will rely upon the Canton medical office to take the lead in all contact tracing efforts as the year progresses.

Clarification of Who Needs to Quarantine

It is important to note that the quarantine requirement is not determined by a student’s passport or nationality—it is based solely upon where he or she has been during the two-week period prior to entering Switzerland. Students who have spent any time in a high-risk country in the two weeks prior to their arrival in Switzerland must observe the quarantine. Students who have spent the previous two weeks in countries not on the high-risk list are exempt from the quarantine—regardless of what their home country is.

We have spent the summer reviewing all aspects of the School for safety and quality. We are closely monitoring local and federal guidelines and working with consultants and local authorities as we refine the safety plans we had in place when we reopened in May. With the understanding that we will continue to fine-tune our safety protocols as conditions change in the fall and beyond, below are several areas of emphasis:

• Use of thermal cameras for immediate temperature checks of all students, staff, and guests when they enter campus
• Use of masks throughout the day for all students in grades 2–12
• Procedures to ensure safe distancing of at least 1.5 meters between students when entering and exiting classrooms, dining areas, and other common spaces
• Use of plexiglass in classrooms and dining halls to further reduce the risk of infection
• Classroom windows left open at all times for ventilation (rooms must be ventilated regularly in the case that windows must be closed because of bad weather)
• Assigned seating in classrooms and in the dining hall for contact tracing
• Eliminating large-scale gatherings such as assemblies for the time being
• Use of the Swiss Covid-19 App to help with contact tracing
• Restricted access to campus and dormitories
• Regulations to ensure more privacy, assigned bathrooms, and enhanced cleaning procedures in dormitories
• Education campaigns and campus signage to reinforce proper hygiene and safe distancing

We shared more detailed protocols with all students and their families in advance of our opening and asked all members of our community to sign a pledge to uphold our safety measures.

As we have explained above and due to the mandatory 10-day quarantine imposed by Switzerland, we will begin the year with many of our boarding students in quarantine. In order to have the safest quarantine possible and to prevent the mixing of day and boarding students, the High School will begin the year with distance learning for the first two days of school: September 3–4. Live classroom instruction for the High School will begin on Monday, September 7. This will ensure that all students needing to quarantine will be cleared before the High School goes live with all day and boarding students.

The Elementary School and Middle School will begin live classes on campus on Thursday, September 3, as planned. These students will have no contact with any boarding students who are finishing up their quarantine.

Due to the unpredictable nature of this extraordinary and ever-changing pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to restructure Fall Academic Travel, which was originally scheduled for October 26–30. We have determined that it will not be prudent to send our students and faculty members on trips around the world just over three months from now. We also believe that due to the challenges we will face at the start of the year, it is in the best interests of our students to restructure our academic calendar in a way that maximizes classroom instruction. The net result is that each division will now have 2–3 more instructional days than originally planned.

Please take note of the following changes to our 2020–2021 academic year calendar:

• There will now be no classes on Monday, October 12, for the Elementary School, which will align all divisions for that three-day weekend.
• All three divisions will hold regular classes on Monday, October 26–Wednesday, October 28, in lieu of Fall Academic Travel.
• All three divisions will have no classes on Thursday, October 29, and Friday, October 30.
   

See the Updated 2020-2021 Academic Year Calendar

As noted above, we have restructured the Fall Academic Travel period in order to minimize risk and maximize our classroom instruction days. We will instead be offering students a variety of safe and invigorating weekend trips around Switzerland throughout the fall. At this time we are aiming to offer two or three weekend trips to our High School students and one weekend trip to our Middle School students. These trips will be chaperoned by faculty members and dorm parents.

We continue to monitor the Federal Office of Public Health’s Information for Travelers page, which includes the latest guidelines and regulations from the federal government. All passengers on public transportation are now required to wear masks, and we will require all students and drivers in TASIS vans to wear masks.

Independent student travel on non-closed weekends may be permitted if a student’s parents make all the arrangements with respect to all current federal regulations. Our Deans’ Office will review requests with families on a case-by-case basis.

With regard to our Athletics Program, we plan to follow the Swiss federal guidelines for sports. These guidelines currently allow training sessions and competitions for all the sports we currently offer. 

Our hope is to maintain the current structure for our competitive teams that travel within Switzerland and to adjacent countries. All competitions will be within driving distance, and we will follow the guidelines discussed above when teams use coach buses or TASIS vans to travel to athletic facilities away from campus. We will also have a waiver/permission form that must be signed by each parent and student at the beginning of the fall season if students wish to travel to the different tournament destinations. 

Following local guidelines, masks are not required for students during sports practices or Physical Education (PE) classes, but all teachers, coaches, or supervisors are required to wear a mask during these sessions. Masks are also required for all students and adults on any transportation taken to and from off-campus destinations.

Athletes on competitive teams are required to wear masks when they are not directly participating in the athletic competition (e.g. watching from the bench). If the school hosting the competition has a stricter mask policy, all TASIS athletes will abide by its requirements.

We will observe a space requirement of 10m² per person for all of our own athletic facilities, including the Palestra, Palestrina, Fitness Room, and Dance Studio. All equipment will be sanitized before and after each use, and all facilities will be ventilated at least once every hour.

August 24–25

Boarding students coming from countries on the high-risk list arrive.

August 31

High School Orientation and Uniform Pick-Up for Day Students

September 1

Middle School Orientation and Uniform Pick-Up for Day Students

September 2

Elementary School Orientation and Uniform Pick-Up for Day Students

September 3

The Elementary School and Middle School begin live classroom instruction.

September 3–4

The High School has two days of distance learning (all classes held remotely).

September 5–6

All other boarding students arrive.

September 7

The High School begins live classroom instruction.

October 12

All three divisions do not have classes.

October 26–28

All three divisions have regular classes.

October 29–30

All three divisions do not have classes.

2020–2021 Academic Year Calendar