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The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has developed a new strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic. If a positive case is found in a given group, the whole group should undergo rapid tests in the future.
The new strategy “will be implemented in the coming weeks,” BAG spokesman Daniel Dauwalder told Keystone-SDA news agency on Sunday, confirming information from “NZZ am Sonntag.” He mentioned schools and homes as examples, but said nothing about other possible target groups.
According to Dauwalder, this will improve the search for sources of infection. The strategy can only be implemented now, as rapid tests had to be introduced beforehand.
Controversy over alleged failures of the summer pandemic
Possible failures in handling the corona pandemic this summer have sparked controversy. Authorities deny the omissions in the run-up to the second wave. However, according to epidemiologists, the clear warnings have been overlooked. The WHO special envoy for Covid-19 even warned of a third wave in Switzerland.
BAG Director Anne Lévy expressed her confidence in an interview with “Sonntagsblick” at the weekend that “we are currently heading in the right direction”. It seems like a turnaround. Be cautiously optimistic.
This evaluation is supported by the development of the so-called reproduction number (R-value). The latest provisional values published online by ETH Zurich are 0.78 on average in Switzerland, and even significantly lower in French-speaking Switzerland. The “Sunday newspaper” had reported on it first.
At the same time, the new director of the BAG denied that Switzerland was not sufficiently prepared for the second wave. It was known that a second wave was coming and that it would probably be more violent than the first.
Surprised by the extension
The second wave did not catch Switzerland off guard. In the summer, the cantons expanded both contact tracing and testing capabilities. However, no one expected the numbers to increase so rapidly.
It was legitimate this summer to “allow a positive scenario”, it was also true Lukas Engelberger, president of the Cantonal Directors of Health (GDK), agreed with this assessment in an interview with the “Sunday newspaper”.
During the weekend there was a contradiction between the epidemiologist Emma Hodcroft from the University of Bern and David Nabarro, the special envoy of the World Health Organization in the fight against Covid-19. Hodcroft told “Le Matin Dimanche” newspaper: “The slow increase in the number of cases in June and July should have alarmed us.” Those were creeping signs, but they got used to it.
In an interview with CH Media-Medien on Saturday, Nabarro said that Swiss authorities had not installed the necessary infrastructure in the summer months after controlling the first wave. The result is the second wave. If you don’t act now, you will have the third wave in early 2021.
The East Asian countries have clearly shown that if the number of cases has been reduced, as in summer, the previous measures will not be relaxed. “Wait until the number of cases is low and stays low,” says Nabarro. You must first be prepared to stop future breakouts.
Mason stings in the wasp nest
The waves rose over the weekend, especially on social media, also in connection with a statement by federal councilor Ueli Maurer on the “Saturday news” on Swiss radio SRF. Among other things, he commented on the high number of deaths in the second wave.
He rejected the charge that the crisis in the crown had gotten out of hand in this regard. “We consciously assume this risk because we weigh interests.” Health is undoubtedly important, but the economy must also be alive and social life must also be possible. “The path we have chosen is the right one for me.”
BAG director Lévy also rejected the fact that older people are being sacrificed to keep the economy running. Switzerland is not in a significantly worse position than other European countries. But any premature death is “too much, too tragic and must be prevented.”
GDK President Engelberger also admitted that he could imagine “we made things too easy for the blazing fire in the summer by letting it go too far.” But it is still too early to judge that. It is not yet known whether Switzerland will look worse in the end.
