Christian Dorer, Editor-in-Chief of the Blick Group
In times of Corona, nobody should take offense at forecasts that turn out to be wrong. In this historically unprecedented situation, everyone is constantly wrong.
There is also a reason why the assessments of the situation are usually too pessimistic: it is better to prepare for the worst than to be accused of not taking the danger seriously.
But the good news is currently being drowned out by all the warnings: The year 2022 started much better than many would have expected!
Let’s remember: The Omicron variant was considered “worst possible development”, “of serious concern” and “highly alarming” when it appeared.
Before Christmas, the federal corona task force predicted 25,000 cases per day at the beginning of the year and significantly higher pressure on the hospitals.
Strictly speaking, it has even become well over 30,000 cases per day. But once again, reality has cheated all forecasts: the number of hospital admissions has fallen, and the intensive care units are also less heavily burdened because the vast majority of those who have been vaccinated experience a mild to symptom-free course of the disease.
So what virologists suspected at the beginning with reference to the history of the pandemic could finally come true: Covid-19 is also becoming more and more contagious, but is losing its danger.
In terms of the rate of infection, the situation in Switzerland has gotten totally out of control. The whole country is being scoured – not on purpose, but through the sheer power of the factual. Let’s hope that we continue to get off reasonably lightly!
At the same time, Switzerland has fared well with its comparatively cautious measures, despite the Omicron – not thanks to an ingenious strategy on the part of the Federal Council, but because there are such different opinions that there is no harsh action, but only a more or less random muddling through.
Forecasts are still difficult – but hope seems justified that the pandemic is actually starting to run out.
And even if not, the worst is almost certainly behind us. Society and politics should soon have their heads free to deal with the consequential damage: the global famine, the interrupted supply chains, the resurgence of inflation, the historic national debt …
The German top economist Hans-Werner Sinn (73) draws a comparison to the 1920s in the big Blick interview and says: “The petty bourgeoisie suffers the most, i.e. people with modest savings accounts and insurance contracts, but no real capital.”
It is quite conceivable that the biggest problems are yet to come…