That's a massive overstatement. I live in Geneva, one of the worst hit cantons (they say around 10% infection rate). Way too many people for a long time simply didn't care, the list of personal anecdotes is way too long to post here.
We all were seeing what is happening few kms south from our border, and government did nothing for almost 2 weeks. It was seriously ridiculous, all restaurants and concerts packed, when 50km south Italian hospitals were already flooded and news was everywhere. There was vote on top level of government which ended up in favor of keeping business opened, because money. People rarely using face masks, even during hardest hits not even half of supermarket shoppers wore masks, on streets barely anybody. Most of the supermarket staff didn't use any mask either.
Generally German-speaking parts were much less affected, I've heard many personal stories from friends that were verbally attacked and mocked on streets and shops for wearing masks (locals mockingly start coughing behind them in shop and rest of the staff having a blast). I know of several people that were fired back in march/april because they came to work in simple face masks due to them being immune-deficient, and management decided to fire them on spot for 'spreading panick', no discussion (if you are blue collar foreigner here, sometimes locals treat you like disposable piece of shit and don't even try to hide it).
Once laws were changed people started behaving a bit more sane, but far from ideal - many people on streets and parks completely ignoring 2 meter rule (even 1 meter). I saw an old guy sitting on bench in the park, coughing like hell, no mask, while on phone having laughs how other people avoided him, even police patrol which didn't even bother to talk to him.
How well this country fares now, despite all of this gives me hope that it ain't that bad with covid. Swiss didn't 'beat' it due to great behavior they showed, in contrary. My home country was much more prudent and restriction were quick and followed by almost eveyrbody, and they ended up with 5% of the Swiss infection rate, despite being of similar size. Of course it could be that it was still stellar behavior en Suisse compared to what common Italians or Spaniards showed, this I can't compare.
But once people realized that this is going to be real bad if it continues unchecked, behaviour changed a lot IMO, even in regions that had very little virus activity.
True, mask wearing is still a problem, and you could see lots of people doing outside activities even during the worst part of the lock down. But as luck would have it, outside infections seem to play almost no epidemiological role. Turns out not wearing masks on the street or going for a Sunday hike on crowded paths isn't a big deal, and in retrospect I'm glad that our lock-down wasn't quite as limiting as in other parts of Europe.
I wish masks were mandatory on public transport, though.
The mask wearers look rather foolish because the data is by now very clear that this is no worse than any other year's flu. It's just not a dangerous disease. The hype is illusory, the models were wrong. The barriers in restaurants and perspex in supermarkets is as far as it goes and even that looks over the top.
as luck would have it, outside infections seem to play almost no epidemiological role
But is it luck? Or is it that the Swiss people reached the correct conclusions much faster than the supposed experts advising the world? As you say, the behaviour was correct, and the moment the similarities in behaviour to other common viruses became apparent, that wasn't irrational.
I wish masks were mandatory on public transport, though.
Please no. Virtually nobody has been doing this and cases have now hit zero anyway so why would it have ever mattered? When will we learn that practically every piece of supposedly expert advice during this pandemic has been wrong? The wisdom of the crowds is far better here than the wisdom of the academics.
I saw it long time ago as normal in south east Asia and it looked like a fine example of compassion towards rest of the population. Compared to usual west when people often go about their business, not caring much about others ie in public transport, schools or open offices. Only now it became acceptable in otherwise advanced place like Switzerland, till now one often faced real persecution, mocking and overall rejection from large parts of society.
Rest of your comment is unfortunately pure garbage, not worth any feedback.
see "Wöchentliche Todesfälle in der Schweiz", and remember the red curve is with measures, the greys without. Maybe you haven't had a friend's uncle die of covid. It could have been much worse; I think we got lucky.
Also see my other comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23439687
I'm kind of shocked how few people use them in Switzerland. Not that I know for sure how much do masks help, but it's so cheap to get them! And the supply is now plentiful. Talk about cost/reward, especially when compared to debilitating costs of things like shutdowns ...
In either case, Europe is cool for now. Let's see what will the Autumn and Winter bring.
And Switzerland probably never will pass this threshold.
Hand shaking completely disappeared, oncoming walking people making a bend to guarantee the distance of 6 feet, hand sanitizers for everybody everywhere, businesses and associations have to publish government-approved conceptions of protection against infections before re-opening and many other little changes.
However relatively little face masks, no curfew and as of today life is going on not quite as before. For example, next week swimming courses for children resume, but parents are asked to send the children already clothed for swimming and are warned if they don't follow the guidelines they and their children will be excluded. In the local hospital all visitors are given face masks to be worn without exception by a Securitas (a private police) employee.