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“We want a great testing offensive in this country,” “Free trials for all” and “an important step back to normal life.” Two hours after the minute of national silence for the victims of the crown, Alain Berset opened the press conference with these words. Now it finally comes, testing, testing, testing. All experts agree that only vaccines and area tests show the way out of the crisis.
Not only have epidemiologists been pushing for a massive expansion of corona testing for a long time, the economy is on board as well. Economiesuisse has repeatedly asked: test, test, test: companies are willing and ready. The billion we all spend each week on the shutdown through taxpayer money can be saved in this way, without risking closing half the country again in a third wave.
So today is a good day: the Federal Council is shaping the country for the next few months, maybe the next few years.
What exactly does the Federal Council want?
- So far, in most cantons only people with symptoms have been tested. This is very little. The Federal Council wants tens of thousands to be tested every day.
- All cantons should now use the Graubünden concept: mass PCR tests in companies, schools, institutions and homes. The Federal Council wanted to introduce this at the end of January, but the cantons reacted with extreme hesitation because the federal government was not offering enough help. Now he wants to set up an incentive with seed funding (64 million francs). In addition, PCR tests are paid for by the federal government, the cantons only have to take care of the logistics.
- Rapid antigen tests will be introduced nationwide in Switzerland, even if they are less informative than PCR tests. Rapid tests will likely be done at pharmacies, where you can get tested right away. Federal Councilor Berset has not yet been able to provide information on the exact implementation. It’s also unclear whether people who tested negative should later have easier access to gyms, for example.
According to experts, this third point is not the most important in the testing strategy, because rapid tests are very imprecise when the virus load is low. But the announcement that Switzerland now wants to introduce rapid tests after Germany and Austria is a clear change in strategy that has long been debated at the Federal Office of Public Health.
Everything is more sustainable than closures
Speaking of a lot: it took a long time, too long, for the FOPH to begin this test offensive. Sufficient PCR tests have been available since autumn, but laboratory capacity had to be adjusted. Thanks to its self-initiated and self-funded mass testing strategy, the Canton of Graubünden has managed to persuade the FOPH to reconsider over the past few months.
It is not understood from the outside, why the highest health officials do not strike down and enable vaccines and tests with all means. Everything is cheaper, more sustainable and better than the stops.
However: After the announcement and the uneven start of the vaccination campaign, today is a day of hope. The Federal Council established the second course, important, and perhaps decisive, to slide towards a more normal future, without “closing the ping-pong”. As with the vaccination campaign, we are still at the beginning of the testing offensive. Whether the federal government and the cantons can implement both as consistently as the closures is currently only hope. After all.
Michael Perricone
Deputy Director of Inland Editorial, SRF
