Soldiers have to be quarantined because of norovirus

Sunday 03rd November 2024 06:27 PM

Bremgarten

“Just a fresh pair of underwear for the whole week”: Soldiers have to be quarantined because of norovirus

Shortly before the end of the RS, army members are stuck in Bremgarten: Because the norovirus is raging in the barracks, they have to be quarantined – and that brings with it many challenges.

Because 35 army members in Bremgarten suffer from norovirus, the entire barracks was isolated.

Symbolic image: Raphael Rohner

The soldiers in the military barracks in Bermgarten didn’t have a nice weekend: the norovirus broke out last Friday. As army spokeswoman Delphine Schwab-Allemand confirmed to 20 Minutes, 35 military personnel are now ill or showing symptoms. That’s why the entire company had to be quarantined to avoid the spread.

“When we got the news a few days ago that we weren’t allowed to go home on our last weekend before the end of the RS, the mood plummeted,” says a soldier. Boredom is spreading. A bigger problem, however, is that many soldiers no longer have clean clothes because recruit school ends on Thursday: “Now I only have one pair of fresh underwear left for the whole week.” The laundry soap that the army provided to the stuck soldiers to wash their clothes in the washbasin provides a bit of relief.

How exactly the virus crept into the barracks is not known. Such an outbreak occurred in the canton of Vaud at the beginning of October. “Noroviruses cause gastrointestinal infections. The virus is transmitted relatively easily from person to person; there is no vaccination. That’s why there are always outbreaks in community facilities such as barracks, homes and hospitals,” the VBS said at the time. (zen)