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In his first interview as federal president, Guy Parmelin (61) self-criticized the crown policy of the Federal Council. Not everything was done well, he said in an interview with the Sunday View. “We underestimate the situation between July and September.” In thinking, the virus was “a long way off” at the time, and that doesn’t just apply to politicians.
Parmelin says that science also did not expect such a violent second wave. “Many specialists were also surprised when the cases rose again so rapidly.”
“Nobody just wanted to hear it”
A representation against which those led are now vehemently defending themselves. “None of the experts was surprised”, contradicts the Geneva virologist Isabella Eckerle to the federal president through Twitter. Virologists, epidemiologists and other experts had “talked about the earth during the summer,” and the World Health Organization (WHO), for example, made recommendations. “Nobody just wanted to hear it,” says Eckerle.
Christian Althaus, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern, also criticized Parmelin for his statement. From his point of view, the Federal Council was simply not interested in the scientific working group and its evaluation in the summer.
Taskforce warned in July
In fact, the Federal Council cannot claim that it was not warned. On July 3, the working group published an unmistakable “Policy Brief”. One is alarmed by the “rapid rise” of Covid infections in Switzerland, he says. “Especially in areas with a high population density, the number of cases is increasing exponentially and at a rapid rate.” Therefore, it is “very important to react quickly”. If measures are introduced too late, it will be more difficult to control the epidemic and avoid a second wave.
Nine days later, the Federal Council decides that major events will be possible again from October 1 with protective measures. The clubs will not be closed until the end of October, although the task force warned in July of the high risk of infection, for example, in discos.
There were also other voices
However, the state government must also be credited with the fact that there were actually individual voices from science who also underestimated the situation. “It looks very, very good at the moment,” said epidemiologist Marcel Salathé in an interview with the “SonntagsZeitung” in late September.
“There are people who think that everything will go really bad in winter. But I am not one of them. Rather, I think the situation will improve soon. “Salathé’s assessment was surprising at this point. Like Althaus, he is a member of the federal scientific working group.
The Federal Council has learned nothing
Now it is clear that although the first vaccine must be delivered earlier than expected, the situation has not improved, on the contrary. The virologist Eckerle accuses the Federal Council of repeating the same mistake. The crown’s federal task force has calculated how the number of cases in Switzerland could develop if the mutated virus spreads in Switzerland at a rate similar to that in Britain. If no further action is taken, there is a risk of a massive third wave in spring, scientists warn. They recommend, once again, specific hardenings such as the obligation to work from home or, again, distance education in secondary schools.
In the interview, however, Parmelin said that no one could say “what measures would solve the problems in three or four weeks.” It is not clear what consequences the virus mutations would have.
“The danger posed by the new variant of the virus is not taken seriously, people wait until it is too late and again ignore the voice of science,” criticized Eckerle. He adds that one look at Britain should be enough “to see where we are going.”
