“Long Covid destroys human lives” – this is how (bad) Switzerland is set up

The head of the World Health Organization published a little-noted guest article last week warning of the consequences of “Long Covid”. Such long-term consequences, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, would destroy the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.

In his commentary, he called on the nations of the world to better protect people from it. Symptoms such as oppressive fatigue, “brain fog” or shortness of breath when climbing stairs: tens of millions of people would suffer from them for months.

The text has been published in the British “Guardian”, which has been conducting a major offensive for several days into the global and personal consequences of “Long Covid”. In addition to Ghebreyesus, the American epidemiologist Anthony Fauci also spoke. He says, “One of the unfortunate, challenging and frustrating aspects of the disease is that there are so many elements that don’t fit into a known or identifiable pathology.”

Even the WHO chief does not deny it. In his text, he also makes it clear that the long-term consequences of a corona infection pathologically have not yet been clarified. However, that does not mean for him that the symptoms classified under the term “Long Covid” should not be taken seriously: the data is scarce, but the available figures clearly show that millions of people suffer from them.

Ghebreyesus therefore formulated five demands in his appeal to the world community. They focus on the following directions: Informs people, prevents infections, collects data, conducts research and guarantees medical care. But how is Switzerland positioned?

Watson asked the Federal Office of Health (BAG) last week. This not only explains in general that Ghebreyesus’ demands are supported. The Federal Office also provides a deeper insight into the authorities’ background work, which has been going on for months. This talkativeness is surprising, since it was not expected, at least not from the outside: those affected have been complaining for more than a year that the Federal Office would not take the “Long Covid” symptoms seriously.

Until Watson’s request, after a long search, little information could be found on the BAG website. That should now change, the Federal Office explains: Over the past 1.5 years, “a relatively dense, specialized range of care has been built up for those affected”. The BAG speaks of more than forty such offers – this list will be published on the Internet “soon” for those affected.

Research is looking worse. This point concerns the third demand of WHO boss Ghebreyesus: he argued for “systematic data collection” and better data exchange on the WHO’s own data platform. His appeal: “I urgently call on countries to exchange data to quickly close knowledge gaps.”

Ghebreyesus praised the rich countries that are already supplying data. However, he forgot to mention that even Switzerland – aka the country where the WHO is headquartered – is not involved in the data platform. The Federal Office of Health confirmed to Watson:

An exchange is currently taking place with the “health authorities of the neighboring countries”. The BAG also explains that work is underway to make existing data sources more accessible. At the same time, the FOPH declares a financial contribution to a clinical trial and five research projects on post-Covid-19 disease.

The BAG is not doing much, but at least something to help those affected by “Long Covid”. This should not be taken as a reproach, because in “normal times” federalism prefers a division of tasks between the federal government and the cantons. The cantons are primarily responsible for health issues, the federal government can help with coordinating tasks and intervene itself in case of emergency during the “special situation”.

However, this emergency does not currently exist. The federal government and the cantons have defined four different scenarios, with the current situation corresponding to level 2: “Increase in the number of infections is manageable with existing structures.” In other words, the cantons are currently responsible for stepping up Ghebreyesu’s call for better protection from Covid. In the cantons, however, little or nothing happens here.