Are we going to go from hell to purgatory? Certainly, Switzerland has one of the highest incidences of Covid-19 disease in Europe; the epidemic continues to progress and Daniel Koch, of the Federal Office of Public Health, stressed on Thursday to the press that the peak is not reached. Blowing hot and cold, the expert nevertheless notes that if the increase in new cases is considerable, it is not as significant as it was a few weeks ago.
On Wednesday, the Vaud and Geneva authorities already said with the utmost caution that it was possible that the confinement would start to bear fruit. “We seem to be reaching a kind of plateau,” comments Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva. It could indicate that we are able to plan the peak of the epidemic thanks to the measures that have been taken. ” Like everyone else, he hastens to add that this trend will have to be confirmed, in particular because, from one day to the next, the figures are experiencing upheavals.
Lessons from Italy
The big fear for Switzerland is to follow the development known in Italy, a few weeks late. On March 19, the death toll announced on the peninsula exceeded that of China, with a total of 3,405 deaths, or about 56 per million people – a proportion close to Switzerland on Thursday. “In our country, the cases are still better distributed than in Italy, where the north of the peninsula was almost exclusively affected, which resulted in great pressure on hospitals,” said Antoine Flahault.
The Genevan also notes that the Italian and Swiss curves are now more similar, in the sense that we observe a slowdown in increases. “The time lag that we observed a few weeks ago between our two countries no longer seems to exist. Italy currently has 217 dead for a million people and we can only hope that things won’t turn out that way for us. ” According to him, this is certainly linked to the fact that in Italy, social distancing measures were taken at a more advanced stage of the epidemic. Other European countries have learned from it.
Don’t let your guard down!
This note of hope does not mean that the confined can be released. “On the contrary, it shows that this is not the time to stop, we must wait for a real decline in the number of cases,” exclaims Antoine Flahault. With the spring weather set in, our authorities urge the Swiss not to go out. “I especially ask all adolescents to show responsibility,” insists Stefan Blättler, president of the Conference of Cantonal Police Chiefs.
As Easter approaches, the police presence will be increased “significantly” on the street. Stefan Blättler calls to give up unnecessary trips and not to go to Ticino or elsewhere in Switzerland. “Avoid going over collars and getting a little daredevil with motorcycles!” In the event of an accident, it will be an additional burden for hospitals, “he added.
Scientific task force
The following? According to Daniel Koch, one cannot make a reliable prognosis. It is especially too early to think of relaxing the measures put in place. To advise the Confederation in its work, a task force of scientists was created, which was presented to the press on Thursday. Among its various tasks, this group studies scenarios for ending the crisis, with in particular a massive increase in testing capacity or the possibility of having certain groups of the population wear the mask.
Scientists are also looking into the app, which allows people to be located via Bluetooth on a voluntary basis. Users are thus informed if they have been near an infected person. The reflection focuses in particular on data protection. “Acceptance of this measure is guaranteed. I think 30% of the population would participate and that would have a significant impact, “said the chairman of the task force, Matthias Egger.
Created: 02.04.2020, 21h26
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