“Frustrating”, “pointless waiting”: Corona Task Force scientists on their way to take on the Federal Council



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The Federal Council wants to wait until next Wednesday before deciding on a further adjustment. This has brought him harsh criticism from scientists who advise him on how to deal with the pandemic.

Criticism via Twitter: Berne epidemiologist Christian Althaus.

Criticism via Twitter: Berne epidemiologist Christian Althaus.

Twitter

The Covid-19 working group was too docile, this newspaper commented almost two weeks ago. It does not tell the authorities and the public what measures are needed now. Tempi passati. On Twitter, individual members are shooting hard at the country’s political leadership. Christian Althaus cannot understand that the Federal Council did not impose a stiffer crown rate at its meeting on Wednesday and will wait until next week to see how the latest measures will affect. The professor of epidemiology at the University of Bern criticized him on Twitter: It takes at least two weeks for the effect of a measure to be apparent. Anyway, you won’t see anything next Wednesday. What is this useless waiting?

“Frustrating,” tweeted Berne epidemiology professor Matthias Egger, who previously chaired the task force. The reason: already in the summer, when the number of cases increased exponentially again, the working group called for immediate action.

At the beginning of July he became alarmed and directed urgent recommendations and measures to politicians and the population, for example to avoid clubs, discos and bars. Basel epidemiologist Emma Hodcroft described the brief lockdowns in a tweet as a good way to slow the spread of the virus if the situation gets out of control. “Exactly,” Egger commented. The Federal Council is examining these mini closures.

Matthias Egger was the first chair of the national Covid-19 task force.

Matthias Egger was the first chair of the national Covid-19 task force.

Peter Schneider / KEYSTONE

Nicola Low, professor of epidemiology at the University of Bern, tweeted to Federal Councilor Alain Berset and Lukas Engelberger, chairman of the Cantonal Health Directors Conference: “The number of cases increased exponentially in the summer. Now they are increasing exponentially because we did not act then. “Meanwhile, Christian Althaus is surprised by the Minister of Justice, Karin Keller-Sutter, who, according to the” Tages-Anzeiger “, first wants to know what costs the individual blocking variants cause: “Um, wouldn’t the Federal Council have six months to prepare these bills?”

Zurich dispenses with stricter rules

On Friday, the Federal Office of Public Health reported 6,634 new laboratory-confirmed infections and 117 additional hospital admissions. A press conference is scheduled for Friday at 2 pm at the federal media center. At 12 noon, the Zurich government announced that it would not decide to tighten the rules for the time being.



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