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In fact, Isabella Eckerle would be free at this point. But the Geneva virologist won’t be able to unplug, as she and her team are concerned about the new mutation. “I wished for a bit of peace and quiet,” Eckerle says during the SonntagsBlick interview via video call. “But every few weeks something new comes up that you are not prepared for.” The coronavirus doesn’t care about vacations.
In which country would you like to live the most now?
Isabella Eckerle: New Zealand would be fine. And if it was just one day to refuel. New Zealanders can celebrate Christmas and go about their normal lives, while the rest of the world grapples with this crisis.
New Zealanders, of course, also have the island advantage …
That is not enough to explain success. In Switzerland, for example, we established the test methods from the beginning and offered the rapid tests. However, countries that activated all measures simultaneously and at an early stage were successful. Waiting is punishable by a pandemic.
Has the Federal Council ignored science?
Yes, I have the feeling that scientific warnings or scientific results did not have the first priority. Unfortunately, you have to say that.
Even after ten months he still didn’t understand: How dangerous are children?
It is still very difficult to tell. Because children rarely have symptoms, we don’t evaluate them enough. According to the BAG criteria, children under the age of twelve do not necessarily have to be tested. A new antibody study in Geneva has just shown us that in the second wave across all population groups, about 22 percent were infected – children six years and older were just as likely as adults.
What does this “insufficient proof” mean?
That we are missing a lot. We have to cover all age groups. And we have to understand what is happening in the schools. Where do children get infected? In the classroom? During sports? Through the teacher? Then you can also develop good protection concepts. Children can pass the infections to families, where there are often risk groups.
Many families depend on their grandparents to take care of their grandchildren.
This is why the overall strategy is so important. A study has shown that if the total number of cases is low, there are no cases in schools either. That should motivate us to contain the number of cases. You must carefully weigh whether you want to take your child to grandparents. There is a risk of infection with the high number of cases currently.
His laboratory has just shown that the mutation discovered in Great Britain is already in Switzerland. What do we know about it so far?
That it is a variant of the virus that has been around since September and has now become clearly established in England in a very short time. Initial data suggest that this variant is much more contagious. What is surprising is that it first appeared in the south-east of England, where the rules were lax and the number of cases was very high. One would expect a greater mix of different variants, and not that one variant suppresses all the others. That worries me. However, we still do not know to what extent this is due to the nature of the virus or if it has been aggravated by other factors, such as minor measures in the region.
Are there more or less severe courses due to the mutation?
Preliminary analyzes show no differences. But if the mutation is actually more contagious, it makes containing the virus even more difficult, and it can also lead to more deaths.
Does the mutation affect your demands for a crown strategy across Europe?
She supports them: the virus does not respect national borders. There is too much mobility for that. If we want to have a good time in the coming months, all countries should work together. In principle, all countries should now take similar measures to contain the virus. All of Europe needs a coordinated blockade.
Basel biophysicist Richard Neher said it was too late for the virus like delete in Asia.
We are actually a long way from elimination, but a low incidence in Europe could allow us to regain control. Entry from other regions should be better controlled. For example with a test at the airport, five days of quarantine and then another test. If we have it under control within ourselves, we can also control everything that comes from outside.
How much does the new corona vaccine help us?
Because we don’t have enough vaccines, at first we can only protect at-risk groups relatively well. This also relieves intensive care units. But I am also concerned about what happens between life and death.
You talk about “Long Covid” – the long-term consequences?
Yes, we also see this damage to health in young people and athletes: in the brain and the heart, for example. Many people need weeks or months to get back to the dam. We will not reach these groups with the vaccine at the moment. If we relax the measures anyway, we will have many infections in the young. So we see these rare serious complications much more often in children.
Can vaccinated people transmit the virus?
You don’t know yet, because the studies weren’t designed for that. This is extremely important information for the Corona strategy. If you can completely prevent the virus from multiplying in a vaccinated person, you really have a chance to eradicate the virus like smallpox.
You stopped visiting your family for Christmas. Did you do something against common sense this year?
Not really. In the circle of friends and family, I am the strictest after visiting our corona intensive care unit in the spring. To see these many patients, all lying face down, they were being ventilated and some were not that old. Then I knew: I definitely don’t want to get this virus. I skipped the party for my 40th birthday. This year I just cross it out and hope for the summer of 2021 to come.
Are we getting rid of Corona by then?
I don’t think so, but it is possible to do more in summer. You can meet outdoors, have a picnic, or go hiking. And I very much hope that we can control the number of cases to such an extent that it is even easier to travel again. I would like to visit my family and friends in Germany.
Keystone
Virologist Isabella Eckerle (40) is one of the most important Swiss voices in the Corona crisis, more than 33,000 people follow the scientist on Twitter. Eckerle, born in Germany, has headed the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Geneva University Clinics since 2018, where she conducts research on the development of cell lines. In the pandemic, you are studying the role of children.
