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Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer is behind the Federal Council’s strategy for the second crown wave. Image: keystone
“Most are over 80 years old”: Ueli Maurer defends the strategy in the second wave
Finance Minister Ueli Maurer is behind Switzerland’s comparatively liberal approach to the corona virus. It is not known whether the many deaths could have been prevented by an earlier Federal Council intervention.
(gb.) Compared to other countries, Switzerland currently has a high mortality rate for Covid19 patients. According to Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer, it is unclear whether an earlier Federal Council intervention at the beginning of the second wave could have prevented this. “We don’t know,” Maurer said Saturday in an interview with Radio SRF. “We have weighed the interests of health, the economy and public life.”
Criticism of this strategy has recently come increasingly from the international side. In an interview with the CH Media newspapers, for example, the special envoy of the World Health Organization for the coronavirus, David Nabarro, said that the situation in Switzerland was extremely serious. He was surprised that the number of cases in Switzerland, which is among the highest in Europe, was not considered a national emergency.
Federal Councilor Maurer rejects allegations that Switzerland had overweight economic interests. “This is the right path for me,” Maurer told Radio SRF. Maurer puts the fact that around 1000 people have died from the corona virus in the last 14 days. “Most are over 80 years old.” He believes that among the fifty years only 31 have died recently.
“The money will have to be enough”
This week alone, the Federal Council pledged another 1 billion francs to support the economy. The money should go to so-called hard cases. When asked if this was enough, Maurer said, “It will have to be enough.” Not all companies that have problems are hard cases. The one billion figure came after consultation with the cantons.
It is not clear how fast the money will flow to the affected companies. Maurer lowered expectations that this will be the case in early December. “Those who have taken precautions can still survive the next few weeks.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)
