Coronavirus: Scientific Working Group Attacks Federal Council

From “frustrating” to “pointless waiting”: the working group is attacking the Federal Council

The government wants to wait until Wednesday before discussing further adjustment. This provokes criticism from scientists.

Kari Kälin, Bruno Knellwolf / ch media

The Covid-19 working group was too docile, this newspaper commented two weeks ago. It does not tell the authorities and the public what measures are needed now. Tempi passati. On Twitter, individual members are now firing heavily on the country’s political leadership.

Christian Althaus cannot understand that the Federal Council did not impose a more rigid crown rate at its meeting on Wednesday and will wait until next week to see how the latest measures will affect. The professor of epidemiology at the University of Bern criticizes on social media that it takes at least two weeks for the effect of a measure to be evident: “So next Wednesday you won’t see anything anyway. What is this useless waiting? ”He wrote to the spokesman for the Federal Council, André Simonazzi.

“Frustrating,” tweeted former task force chief Matthias Egger. Already in the summer, when the number of cases increased exponentially again, the task force had called for immediate action.

In early July, he became alarmed and made urgent recommendations to politicians and the population. For example, avoid clubs, discos, and bars. Basel epidemiologist Emma Hodcroft described the brief lockdowns in a tweet as a good way to slow the spread of the virus if the situation gets out of control. “Exactly,” Egger commented. The Federal Council is examining these mini closures.

The task force, which was simply docile, has recently started using short message service to get the Federal Council on the bandwagon. Nicola Low, professor of epidemiology at the University of Bern, tweeted to Alain Berset and Lukas Engelberger, president of the Cantonal Health Directors Conference: “The number of cases increased exponentially in the summer. Now they are increasing exponentially because we did not act then. “

On the way to confrontation on social media

Meanwhile, Christian Althaus wonders about the Minister of Justice, Karin Keller-Sutter, who, according to the “Tages-Anzeiger”, first wants to know what costs the individual blocking variants cause: “Um, wouldn’t the Federal Council have six months to prepare these bills? “

On Friday, when the canton of Zurich surprisingly withdrew other measures, scientists followed up. But not everyone is on social media with pointed comments. Basel epidemiologist Marcel Tanner is more sober (see also interview below). Tanner comments that the Canton of St. Gallen continues to allow large-scale events: “That’s a good thing. If the Canton of St. Gallen sees that it can assume this responsibility, that is correct. “

According to Tanner, governments have to decide: “How much view do I give to the people and where should the measures be ordered?” That is not an easy question. Tanner notes that many people have become “tired and a little more relaxed” in recent weeks. “That has led to a new situation where you can wonder if stricter measures are needed again.” The working group thinks: Yes