Tag Archives: 3.) Health

 © Miriam Doerr | Dreamstime.com As Switzerland moves towards easing Covid-19 social restrictions, some fear the virus will get away again. A key part of containing the spread is testing. One way to evaluate how comprehensive testing is is to look at positivity, the percentage of tests that are positive. Imagine the population were a jar of jelly beans, the testing a scoop, and the red jelly beans in the scoop positives. Positivity would be the percentage of red...

© Absolut_photos | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s Covid-19 death rate has been lower than much of the rest of Europe. A lower infection rate among older people appears to be one reason. The rates of deaths among those either recovering or dying have been particularly high in Belgium (40%), France (34%) and Italy (31%). In other countries such as Austria (4%), Germany (5%) and Switzerland (7%) they have been much lower. There are many reasons for variations in these...

© Panuwat Dangsungnoen | Dreamstime.com By 14 April 2020, a total 25,936 cases of Covid-19 infection had been recorded in Switzerland, a rise of 3,683 over the preceding 7 days. However, despite the continued rise in cases there are indications measures to slowdown the spread of the virus are working. New daily infections since the start of April 2020 from four different sources presented in the chart below all show a broadly downward trend. It is important to note...

© Arseniy Rogov | Dreamstime.com The number of new recorded Covid-19 cases is slowing in Switzerland. By 8 April 2020 the total number of recorded cases was 23,574 according to Switzerland’s health authority. Comparing the number of new cases on day to day basis can be misleading, particularly over the weekend when counting is sometimes interrupted. However, if the numbers are smoothed and compared on a week by week basis these counting timing distortions are less...

© Katarzyna Bialasiewicz | Dreamstime.com While there is currently no scientifically proven link between anosmia (loss of smell) and Covid-19, more and more experts are saying the symptom is a strong indicator. Gilbert Greub, head of the microbiology department at the CHUV hospital in Lausanne, is one such expert. “Given the widespread Covid-19 epidemic, I think that everyone who has a problem tasting or a problem smelling has a very high likelihood of testing...

© Sudok1 | Dreamstime.com By 31 March 2020, there were around 326 Covid-19 patients in intensive care and 228 on ventilators in Switzerland. It is estimated that there are around 750 ventilators across the country. If the health system reaches overload, medical professionals in Switzerland might be forced to make the kinds of difficult decisions being made in neighbouring France and Italy. According to RTS, some patients have been transferred to Switzerland from...

© blurf | Dreamstime.com This morning, Switzerland’s federal government announced the number of Covid-19 tests conducted so far in Switzerland. South Korea, a nation often cited among those with high test rates, now trails Switzerland on the number per capita tests it has conducted. By 26 March 2020, South Korea had conducted 364,942 tests, a rate of 7,090 test per million, while Switzerland had conducted 91,400 Covid-19 tests, a rate of 10,665 tests per million....

© Peter Ekvall | Dreamstime.com Naturally, many of us would like to know the fatality rate of Covid-19. But at this stage it is guesswork. Here are some of the problems with two of the most popular fatality rates. The most popular calculation involves dividing the number deaths by the number of cases. Epidemiologists call this a naive case fatality rate (CFR). There are two ways to calculate this rate. The all-in rate The first is to take the number of deaths so far...

© Anyaivanova | Dreamstime.com Coronavirus testing has been rationed in Switzerland, reserving it for high risk more severe cases, although doctors retain discretion to have anyone tested. It is likely those that have been infected and have recovered will have immunity and no longer be able to act as carriers of the disease. However, without an antibody test, all those who didn’t qualify for a test, will have no way of confirming whether or not they have had it. This...

© Aquanaut4 | Dreamstime.com Lombardy, the region in northern Italy where the coronavirus outbreak first took off in Europe, now has fewer per capita cases testing positive for the virus than some Swiss cantons. Recent data from Italy show there were 179 cases per 100,000 in Lombardy. In Ticino, Switzerland’s worst affected canton, there were 329 cases per 100,000. Geneva (231) and Vaud (211) had Switzerland’s next highest rates. In percentage terms Ticino (+84%),...