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For a long time, Aargau was one of the junk cantons that took no action against the growing corona infections. In early December, the canton did not want to listen to the Federal Council’s urgent recommendations for action, despite the fact that, on average, one infected resident of Aargau infected more than one more. The so-called R-value was above 1. If the pandemic is to be kept under control, the value should be 0.8 according to the Federal Council: 100 infected people would “only” infect 80 more with corona. Then the infections would slowly subside.
But the Aargau governing council remained inactive despite the growing number of cases. It was expected that the Federal Council would take tough measures and that the cantonal government could have continued to monitor. But when the state government closed only restaurants and leisure facilities on Friday, the governing council felt compelled to act due to the high number of cases: it closed stores in Aargau as the only canton in the country.
VIEW shows how much Aargau’s attitude changed in half a month.
Beginning of December: Quiet with the Gallati Government Councilor
At the beginning of December, several cantonal health directors were not impressed by the ultimatum of action from the Minister of Health, Alain Berset (48), but especially from the councilor of the Aargau government, Jean-Pierre Gallati (54, Senior Vice President). He even joked: “If the Federal Council thinks that it can assess the situation in the cantons better than the cantonal governments, it is free to order the measures.” In fact, it is up to the Federal Council to impose measures throughout Switzerland.
In his press conference on December 7, Gallati stressed that this was not an “urgent emergency” that would require immediate action. The statistics prove it. The number of cases, the number of hospital admissions and deaths has been stable for a few weeks, said canton doctor Yvonne Hummel.
But then the Aargauer hospitals raised the alarm: Although there was still capacity for beds in the hospitals, the situation was critical for all the nurses and doctors in the intensive care units, said Christoph Fux, chief physician for infectious diseases at the Aarau Cantonal Hospital, in Aargauer Zeitung, a day later. ». After weeks of high performance, the staff had reached the limit of their capabilities. Gallati remained calm. And he received praise from his party for it.
In the middle of the month: the governing council yields
Two days later, the canton registered 508 new infections, the highest value in history. Little by little, the Aargau government realized: the canton shared the Federal Council’s assessment, it said in a letter. “The development of the epidemiological situation in recent days requires a tightening of protection measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic.”
Initial Federal Council demands that restaurants and leisure activities, but also shops should close at 7pm, Gallati and Co. suddenly agreed.But for restaurants not being able to open on Sundays, that was still going too far. for the people of Aargau back then.
December 18: U-turn 180 degrees
But the virus did not wait for Aargau to wake up from his inactivity; on the contrary, the number of cases skyrocketed. Last week, the canton had to record a new record: 568 corona cases in one day. The canton’s medical service assumed that the number of cases would double every two to four weeks.
Aargau was not alone: the situation was also precarious in St. Gallen, Zurich and in almost all the other German-speaking cantons and Ticino. On December 18, the Federal Council decided to toughen the rules: restaurants have to close.
Suddenly, the federal government’s measures were no longer sufficient for the Aargau government. On the same day, the canton overcame the Federal Council’s tightening: it also closed many stores. “Waiting until after Christmas is not responsible,” he says now. Avoid increased stress in hospitals and health personnel.
Gallati’s colleague from the governing council, Alex Hürzeler (55), is currently in head office due to the crown quarantine. Meanwhile, the people of Aargau are now infected with the “Lädelen” in the neighboring cantons.
