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Sunday’s view: The federal government is launching a major test offensive in the fight against Corona. Do you really think that Switzerland will control the situation with this?
Alain Berset: Mass testing is one of the three elements to return to a certain normality. The other two are vaccines and risk-based openings. More extensive tests, in schools, universities, companies, allow us to find more asymptomatic people in the future and interrupt the chains of transmission.
For companies, testing means extra work. How do you get companies to participate anyway?
Of course, testing takes some effort, but there are also benefits. If a company regularly tests 80 percent of the employees present and a positive case is found, the contact persons do not have to be quarantined.
Is that really enough of an incentive for companies to join en masse?
We all want to leave the current situation behind. Therefore, we assume that everyone will continue to be willing to help us get out of this crisis together. Free trials are easy to use. The Federal Council expects great interest.
Nowadays it is already possible to carry out massive tests in schools or companies, but only a few participate. Why should it be any different in the future?
Today, testing is only free in companies if there is an outbreak or in companies with higher risk. To this end, some cantons have funded massive trials on their own initiative. In the future, the federal government will pay these costs. If everyone comes together, we can open up more safely and get back to normal faster.
What is the goal: how many tests should be done?
We expect that in the near future 40 percent of the mobile population will be tested every week: those who go to school, work in companies or participate in clubs.
The question also arises here: How do you get people to participate? In parliament, not half of the politicians took the saliva test.
I think it will take a while for that to become established. It certainly won’t be possible to try all of them on March 16. But now is the time to massively expand capabilities. Also: the obstacles to a test are getting deeper and deeper. Testing is a breeze with saliva tests and soon home self-tests.
Again: don’t we need additional incentives for people to participate?
With free trials we can help protect our close contacts. Everyone benefits from this.
Experts have been demanding more proof for months. Why does it only occur to you now?
The deciding factors are the availability of the tests, including rapid and saliva tests, and the capabilities of the laboratories. Furthermore, the tests must be able to demonstrate an infection with some degree of reliability. That is why it would not have been possible to start the massive tests much earlier. In addition, mass testing is a great effort for the cantons and already has a lot to do with vaccinations and contact follow-up. Rapid inoculation of all available doses of vaccine is as important as extensive testing.
What does mass testing mean? Can restaurants, cinemas and gyms reopen faster?
Our goal is to keep the situation under control. Massive tests and vaccines will help us with this, also when accompanying the openings. It also depends on how the number of cases develops. In some countries around us they are currently increasing quite steeply, and infections have not decreased in our country for a few days either.
The first sign of a third wave?
Nobody knows. We must not lose control; who threatened us twice. If hospital admissions rise again, drastic measures are needed again. We’re doing everything we can to make sure it goes well this time.
The test offensive comes at a time when the relationship between the Federal Council and Parliament is strained. Coincidence?
The Federal Council works constantly. Always decide and report when something is ready. Such a test offensive would not have been possible a month ago. I have many discussions with parliamentarians, that is normal.
Normal? A majority in two commissions of the National Council wants to force the Federal Council to open procedures on a fixed date. Patience with the government has run out.
I work closely with Parliament and I have great respect for their work. Once again the question arises: Who is responsible for what? The Federal Council wants to get out of this situation as soon as possible without losing control of the pandemic. Because then the crisis will only drag on.
From the bourgeois camp, comes the accusation that the government does not involve the parliament enough.
The Federal Council is in close contact with Parliament. In the first steps of the opening, we followed the demands of Parliament on almost every point. Except for the terraces.
In addition to testing, vaccines are an important pillar in the fight against Covid. Switzerland is falling behind on its own schedule. Can someone who wants to get vaccinated before the summer really get vaccinated?
Everybody wants certainty. In such a crisis, predictability is a rare commodity. But what I defend is our good strategy to get the vaccines. This started a year ago! Last summer, we already used the fastest, best and safest vaccines. At the end of June we will have enough vaccines to vaccinate the part of the population that wants to be vaccinated. Of course, we base this on estimates. If you suddenly get vaccinated much more or less, that changes.
Will the arrears of the last weeks be recovered soon?
Yes. There were delivery bottlenecks around the world, which of course also affected Switzerland. In April, May and June the big decisive deliveries arrive. We have no signs of impending bottlenecks. That is what contracts are, they have guaranteed us. Then we will have enough doses.
