Confederation’s ad hoc crisis team – Swiss epidemiologist wants to reactivate the corona crisis team – News


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In the first phase of the pandemic, a crisis team managed the situation. He was disbanded. But now the cases are rising again.

At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the Federal Council declared the extraordinary situation. Almost at the same time – for the first time ever – he convened a special committee: the federal government’s ad hoc Corona crisis team. Its task was to coordinate crisis management and its consequences for health care.

This ad hoc crisis team included 14 leaders from all departments, the cantons, as well as experts from science, business and civil society.

Speed ​​is of the essence

“What was most convincing was the coordination and the coherent speed,” says Marcel Salathé, professor of epidemiology at the ETH Lausanne. He supported the crisis team as an expert in digitization in the development of the Swiss Covid app and as a member of the scientific task force at the time.

All important parties were brought to the table quickly and decisions were made very quickly and easily. “That helped because the speed counts,” says Salathé.

Legend:

Marcel Salathé is also a co-founder of CH ++, an association that wants to bring more scientific knowledge into politics.

Keystone

In June 2020, the federal government’s ad hoc crisis team was disbanded. The Federal Council decided to move to the special situation. And so the cantons were primarily responsible for combating the pandemic again.

But that has not proven itself, says Salathé, because this system is far too slow, too complicated and too poorly coordinated. Everyone would have different powers and responsibilities. “It seems like it’s a huge mess in terms of coordination.”

Pandemic makes faster decisions necessary

The decision-making processes in Switzerland came from a time when everything went much slower and there were fewer crises, continues Salathé. This system, based on federalism, is not all bad. But the pandemic requires decisions to be made at a much faster rate – right now, in the fifth wave and with the Omikron variant.

Legend:

Omikron is spreading more and more, with consequences for the health system, but possibly also for other areas: public transport, food supply, power supply – the critical infrastructures in Switzerland.

Keystone

In conclusion, the epidemiologist assumes that a similar setup as last time would be useful. In other words, “that the different participants from politics, science, business, the health system and the education system – everyone who is affected – come together.”

No reactivation of the ad hoc crisis team

But reinstating the ad hoc crisis team is not an issue at the federal level – at least for the moment. According to the Federal Chancellery, crisis management is based on tried and tested structures.

But the criticism apparently does not go unheard by the Federal Council. One must try to organize even better for the next crisis, said Federal President Guy Parmelin on Sunday in the “Sunday newspaper”. The crisis management would be evaluated.

Marcel Salathé thinks that after the end of the crisis and already today, one should consider: “What worked well? Where is there definitely room for improvement? »In order to be better equipped for future threats, not just a pandemic.

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