Sex workers are set to return from Covid-19 lockdown earlier than contact sports in Switzerland as minsters cite the “concept of protection” of protected sex better suited to prevent the spread of infection than martial arts.
The Alpine nation was one of the first countries in Europe to reopen shops, restaurants and schools earlier this month, and now the country’s red-light district has been given the green light to return to business as usual from June 6.
Prostitution in Switzerland is legal and a roadmap has even been introduced to help minimise the spread of coronavirus which includes advice on certain positions that maximise social distancing even in the most intimate of practices.
However, sporting activities that require ‘close and constant’ physical contact – such as judo, boxing and wrestling – will be forced to wait as its requirement of physical contact is deemed more likely to spread the disease than intercourse.
Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset announced plans to make the oldest profession one of the first to return along with public pools, cinemas and nightclubs, citing a “concept of protection” which means turning tricks will be considered more safe than a tussle on the tatami.
“There are certainly personal contacts but a concept of protection seems possible. I am well aware of the bizarre aspect of my answer,”Berset told a press conference on Monday, Bloomberg reported. “To tell you the truth, erotic services could have resumed earlier.”
For regular punters, taking on measures to avoid infection might be something of a forte, but earlier in May, sex workers’ association ProKoRe released an exhaustive list of hygienic guidelines just in case.
They include urging brothel-goers to keep to the less-imaginative “doggy-style” and “cowgirl/rider” positions, to ensure faces of the two entwined in the deed are as far apart as possible.
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Spontaneous public gatherings of as many as 30 people and events of no more than 300 will also be allowed in Switzerland from June 6, but whether those gatherings involve any element of explicit activity is entirely down to the participants involved.
