The corona pandemic is still keeping the world in suspense. The (newer) variant Omikron also travels all over the planet and does not spare Switzerland either. It is more contagious but also milder if infected.
Health Minister Alain Berset (49) also knows this. He even went a step further and compared the course of the infection with the flu – if you are vaccinated.
This statement causes horror, especially among experts, since the Federal Council had not classified the corona virus as a conventional flu from the start in order to clarify the danger.
Annoyed, angry, confused
But not only experts see the flu comparison as problematic. The readers are also confused by the statement. “If it’s like a cold or flu, why all the measures?” asks reader Markus Huber.
Reader Maria Gabriel sees it similarly. You find it completely wrong what Alain Berset said there. “That plays into the hands of the opponents of vaccination and measures!” Hans Rohner agrees. “It seems to me that a Federal Councilor made a rather ill-considered and dangerous statement, which I was very disappointed with,” he comments.
“You can’t tell the people and especially the critics for two years that this virus has nothing to do with flu and then suddenly, when you don’t know what to do, downplay the pandemic,” he continues. The matter is not over yet and as long as there are deaths to be lamented, there is nothing to be trivialized.
The first Mister Corona, Daniel Koch (66), made a similar statement at the beginning of the pandemic. “The statement does not mean that everything is over now!” Berset put it into perspective on Friday.
One statement, many interpretations
Some readers are critical of the comparison because the flu can also be a serious and dangerous disease. “The comparison lags behind because it downplays the flu,” writes Patrick Inderbitzin.
And reader Peter Graf finds the flu comparison apt for that very reason. “What we call the flu is usually a common cold. A real flu is neither harmless nor a children’s birthday party. So the comparison of Berset is not at all absurd. »
Berset’s statement is also welcome for reader Roland Uehli. “This variant will end the pandemic,” he suspects. That’s what all of humanity is waiting for. It’s time to think optimistically. It is doubtful whether Berset really wanted to send out these signals.
Finally, the experts warn that the data on Omikron is still uncertain. For reader Gerhard Menzi, however, one thing is clear: “We all have to go through this! Better an end with terror than terror without end.”