An 83-year-old patient from the canton of Aargau died of the consequences of the coronavirus. It is the third death in Aargau. All of the deceased were over 80 years old. There are a total of 364 confirmed corona cases (as of Friday afternoon). That is 15 more than on Thursday. 50 people are in the hospital. 12 of them are being treated in the intensive care unit, 10 of which require artificial ventilation. The numbers would continue to increase, said Dieter Wicki, head of cantonal civil protection, at the telephone point de press on Friday afternoon. Astonishingly, Aargau is still far less affected than other cantons. “The numbers are not increasing as much as we calculated in our worst case scenarios,” said Wicki. The goal is still to ensure that the Aargau health system is not overloaded. For this, the help of the population is still needed.
The coordinated medical service awarded the Canton of Aargau seven devices, Wicki informed. These had been picked up in the army pharmacy and would be distributed to the hospitals as soon as possible.
Healthcare professionals wanted
The need for medical specialists is still high and will increase, according to the civil protection officer. The canton therefore has a volunteer platform (www.ag.ch/helfen) to bring together people and organizations that offer or need help. A special focus of the platform is volunteer management in health care and civil protection. People who want to get involved in these areas can send their details including qualifications to the canton using an online form. The cantonal management staff sift through the offers of help and can quickly pass them on to institutions and authorities as needed, Wicki explained.
The Federal Council informed on Friday that it can allow cantons in the fight against the corona virus to restrict or stop the activity of certain economic sectors at short notice. The Government Council welcomed this new rule, said Stephanie Renner of the government communications service. At the moment there is no reason for the Aargau government council to make use of the regulation. (nla)
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