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In the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in March, the life expectancy of men in Ticino fell by six years, from 82 to 76 years, according to a demographer. At Lake Geneva, it was reduced by three years, as Philippe Wanner of the University of Geneva said on RTS radio in western Switzerland.
In Ticino, men’s life expectancy dropped from 82 to 76 years during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in spring. (Symbol image)
Photo: Zoltan Balogh (Keystone)
Life expectancy in Switzerland is 86 years for women and 82 years for men. It is one of the highest in the world and has been rising continuously for about two months out of the year for almost a century.
The coronavirus pandemic has claimed nearly 6,000 deaths in Switzerland so far, and the weekly calculated life expectancy fell as a result, especially in Ticino and the Lake Geneva region, as Wanner said on Saturday on the “Forum” program. A life expectancy of just 76 years for men in Ticino was last seen in the early 1980s.
No excess mortality in the rest of Switzerland
Seen across Switzerland, the decline in life expectancy is currently three to four months, as Wanner explained. The actual extent will depend on how the second wave ends.
“The first wave claimed many deaths in Ticino and the Lake Geneva region, while the rest of Switzerland was spared.” Seventy percent of the Swiss population did not have excessive mortality, Wanner said.
A similar trend was last seen in 1918 at the time of the Spanish flu, Wanner said. But this has led to many more deaths.
“If you listen to the Federal Council, you notice that there is much talk about the number of cases and the conditions of hospital stays, but there is little or no mention of deaths,” said the scientist from the University of Geneva. However, the deceased would affect a large number of families.
However, there are doubts about the estimates of life expectancy. Wanner has his Study published as preprintSo it has not yet been tested by other scientists for errors. However, according to Wanner, comparable studies in Italy would have produced similar results. In Spain, life expectancy was sometimes reduced even more.
