Swiss scientists sound the alarm. Various epidemiologists and infectiologists are calling for drastic measures to be taken in Switzerland as soon as possible to prevent conditions such as those in Italy. The Italian healthcare system is on the verge of collapse. And in a collapsing healthcare system, more people die of Covid-19, other diseases and accidents than in a functioning healthcare system.
“If you look at the numbers, Switzerland is on exactly the same course as Italy around a week ago,” says infectiologist and gene specialist Jacques Fellay from the Lausanne University Hospital CHUV and EPFL. The number of cases increases exponentially, and the numbers no longer even represent the whole reality, because doctors in Switzerland no longer test all suspected cases. The number of cases is therefore probably even higher.
“It is astonishing that we are giving up the precise recording of the epidemic just one week after the first case occurred in Switzerland.”Epidemiologist Christian Althaus
“We need drastic measures immediately,” says Fellay. Everything had to be done to reduce the number of new infections: avoid large crowds everywhere, close schools and test across the board so that the sick can isolate themselves. “If we don’t do it now, we’ll be forced to do it in a week anyway.” But there could be more deaths that could have been prevented. “It is clear to us researchers that those responsible at the Federal Office of Public Health are currently doing a very difficult job,” says Fellay. It is not about criticizing those responsible in the BAG. “We just want to make it clear what the scientific data show. And they show that every day counts. » He understood that the economy was worried. “But we are in an exceptional situation.”
Together with the epidemiologists Christian Althaus and Marcel Salathé and several other signatories, Fellay wrote an open letter to the universities to immediately stop teaching. “We should also close as many schools as we can,” says Fellay. What is possible in Denmark, where those responsible closed all schools yesterday, should also be possible here.
“The key now is to prevent people from gathering at all levels.” From an epidemiological point of view, it would be a good thing if only those children went to care institutions for whom it was not otherwise possible due to the family situation. And when a child in the neighborhood plays with others, it is still not comparable to a school where hundreds come together every day.
The situation is also assessed by the renowned US epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch from Harvard University. (Read the interview with Lipsitch here.) Covid-19 is a disease that is slowly progressing. “That is one of the reasons why it is so dangerous,” says Lipsitch. The severely affected would only come to the intensive care units weeks after the infection. “If the authorities only react when the beds are already heavily occupied, they will be overwhelmed by the illnesses that come after them as if a tidal wave.” That is exactly what happened in Italy.
It was also crucial to continue testing as broadly as possible. “Research shows that this is one of the most effective measures for early detection and isolation of cases,” writes epidemiologist Marcel Salathé on Twitter. Epidemiologist Christian Althaus also says: “It is astonishing that we are giving up the epidemic exactly one week after the first case occurred in Switzerland.”
Antoine Flahault, head of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Geneva, also criticizes the federal measures on Twitter as too tame: «Swiss measures remain hesitant, fragmented. The authorities are not sufficiently aware that we are on exactly the same course as Lombardy. We need quick, coordinated action. »
Created: 3/12/2020, 7:52 PM
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