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Federal Councilor Alain Berset on Wednesday during his visit to a test center in Muttenz (BL). Image: keystone
Analysis
WEF, ski, death: Swiss crown strategy is degenerating on the wrong track
The highest possible protection for health with the least possible damage to the economy – this is how the Federal Council wanted to spend the Corona winter. Now it turns out that it doesn’t work.
Switzerland sees itself as a special case. We are different from the others. For many this means: we are better. Unlike the others, we have everything under control. This also applies to the second corona wave. Okay, case numbers skyrocketed in October. In a global comparison, we went from model students to troubled kids in record time.
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However, the Federal Council has not lost its mind. While virtually every country around us entered into a partial blockade, Switzerland did not, at least at the national level. We have more or less copied the Swedish model: as much health protection as possible with as little damage to the economy as possible.
At first it worked. Infections dropped significantly, while barely moving around with neighbors locked up. “The miracle of the Crown in Bern?” Asked the German tabloid “Bild” in amazement. Basel canton physician Thomas Steffen explicitly praised the “special Swiss route” last Friday.
R value increases again
“Winter will not be easy,” warned Steffen. However, the decline in new infections is rewarding. It was a snapshot with a limited lifespan. Because in recent days the number of cases has stabilized at a very high level by international standards. And maybe I’ll get back up again soon.
According to calculations by ETH Zurich, the reproduction value R increases again in direction 1. A sustainable reduction is only possible with a value of 0.8 and below. In any case, the admired decrease in infections was due to the fact that those regions decided to take measures much harsher than the demands of the Federal Council, that is, the western half of the country.
At least the main objective has been achieved so far: the dreaded catastrophe in hospitals has not materialized. But the utilization of intensive care units remains high. You wonder what this will do to the hospital staff if it continues all winter long. And when it comes to deaths, Switzerland is “top” in an unremarkable way.
But does it at least work with the second goal? Is the economy weathering the crisis well? Here the indicators are not clear. The ETH economic barometer fell in October and November. One caveat could be Sweden, whose economy did not pass the spring better than that of its tighter neighbors in Scandinavia.
And there are disturbing signs that Switzerland could damage its reputation with its special route:
The WEF-Out
WEF 2012 should take place in Bürgenstock. Nothing will come of that. Image: keystone
Since September it has become clear that the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) will not take place in Davos in January 2021. After all, it should stay in Switzerland. It was scheduled to take place in central Switzerland in May, with a focus on Bürgenstock. Significantly smaller than usual, but in physical and not virtual form.
Now this hope is also fading due to the high crown numbers in Switzerland. The situation is “difficult”, said the founder of the WEF, Klaus Schwab, in an interview with “Switzerland at the weekend”. An alternative has already been found: Singapore, one of the East Asian states that managed to control the crisis without a blockade.
Apparently, Schwab is currently in Singapore. It is a clear indication that the movement is almost sealed. However, it is not the case that the Swiss fan, Schwab, wants to leave voluntarily. It is the WEF participants who do not feel like traveling to the “epidemic nest” of Switzerland. Critical reports about our special path have led to this in various media.
Currently, international pressure is great not to keep the WEF in Switzerland, Klaus Schwab according to “Blick” told the SVP National Councilor of Lucerne, Franz Grüter. New Federal President Guy Parmelin and Chancellor Ignazio Cassis were informed according to CH Media. The WEF will decide definitively on Monday, probably for Singapore.
Ski gossip
In the days of Corona, skiing is also becoming a political issue. Image: keystone
Hardly any other topic has caused such a stir recently as the start of the ski season. Large countries like Germany and France do not want to launch them until January for fear of a new wave of contagion during the holidays. French President Emmanuel Macron even wants to prevent his compatriots from skiing abroad.
Even Austria, where tourism is very important, has given in to pressure and will practically close the borders for foreign skiers by January 10. Switzerland wants to keep the slopes and railways open, but Health Minister Alain Berset is so concerned that he calls for capacity restrictions in ski areas.
Bourgeois politicians protested against it on Wednesday and tourism professionals in the affected regions are also outraged. They refer to your protection concepts. Nor should there be après-ski as usual. However, if an illegal party with a lot of alcohol and without a protection concept turns into a superpreader event, “Ischgl 2” is perfect.
Maybe the ski areas of Switzerland like big events. Looking back, one can only shake his head over the admission of thousands of spectators to soccer and ice hockey games starting October 1. After four weeks finished in glory, the hard-earned protection concepts went to the cat.
Death statistics
With candles, the activists remembered the 382 deaths by crown in the canton of Zurich last Friday. Image: keystone
The renowned magazine “Foreign Policy” issued damning testimony on the federal council’s crown policy in October: “Switzerland values frugality more than human life,” reads the analysis written by a Swiss citizen. Even “Bild” wrote that the death rate in Switzerland is “SIGNIFICANTLY higher” than in Germany.
Around 100 people died for the last time from Covid-19 each day. In total there are more than 5000. On paper, Switzerland occupies an inglorious superior position. And in reality, there is a human destiny behind each of these deaths. Critics of the Federal Council’s Crown policy are remembering this with candles and vigils.
The middle way is usually a Swiss virtue, an activist told the foreign magazine ZDF: “But with the virus there is no middle way.” Finance Minister Ueli Maurer sees no reason to change anything. Most of the fatalities are over 80 with previous illnesses, he said on Radio SRF’s “Saturday broadcast.”
Some of these people may have been at risk. But not all. An example is Ernst Luginbühl, 90, from Spreitenbach, who died on October 31. His daughter has little understanding with people who are trivialized: “My father would have had time. He was still happy. He did not die with the virus, but because of it. “
Gradually, even for the former defenders of the Sonderweg, Switzerland stepped on the black ice in the Corona winter and slipped heavily in the process. Fans of the Swedish model have also kept quiet. And widespread vaccination won’t be available until spring.
“It is dishonest, after the October experience, to continue pretending that a winter season is possible without severe restrictions and severely limited gastronomy,” he criticized NZZ on Thursday for the “tourist-populist tendencies of SVP, CVP and FDP Tallas» who bet on the unlimited fun of skiing.
The president of the FDP, Petra Gössi, for her part, sees problems in Switzerland due to the relocation of the WEF and the possible reasoning of Klaus Schwab, as she told the Tamedia newspapers: “If it casts doubt that Switzerland is safe, it would be a catastrophe. for the international image of our country “.
But a second block?
Basel philosophy professor Andreas Brenner is right when, in Watson’s interview, he asks politicians not to just listen to the “microscience” of virology. The consequences of the pandemic for society and the economy are drastic and the blockades are tough measures. But mass burnout among hospital staff is not a solution either.
Perhaps, after all, the 60 economists are right, calling for a second blockade in an open letter to the Federal Council, “however difficult and painful it may be.” Even NZZ thinks: “Better temporarily harsh cantonal interventions like the closure of all restaurants than another disaster like in October.”
The special case of Switzerland may have its advantages. The downside is that we like to bury our heads in the sand when it turns out to be the wrong way. That too could flourish now – the danger that we will experience a dark Christmas is not avoided.
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