Masks will become a common sight, says Covid taskforce head

Tanja Stadler believes people will choose to wear masks more often in winter from now on Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The head of the Swiss government’s Covid taskforce has appealed to the public to plan well for booster vaccinations in autumn. She also believes people will choose to wear masks more often in winter from now on.

Since the most recent lifting of restrictions, the data showed that older people were increasingly being infected with the virus again, Tanja Stadler said in an interviewExternal link with Tamedia newspapers on Tuesday. But hospital admissions have remained constant, she said.

“Immunity to severe courses of disease does not seem to have decreased markedly in this group. But clearly, we have to be very vigilant. If this changes, it’s in everyone’s interest that these people can get a booster vaccination quickly,” she said.

Stadler said it would be crucial to plan this second booster vaccination early and effectively. “We need to know in summer who is going to be offered the vaccination so that the vaccination campaign can then be rolled out accordingly. These people should be able to be vaccinated in September so that we’re definitely ready when [Covid cases start increasing again] in autumn.”

Vaccination for all

She said she was very much in favour of making the vaccination available to everyone who wants it, including younger people.

“The situation is comparable to the flu vaccination,” she said. “What’s more, the recent development of the coronavirus has shown how well the vaccination works. It’s only thanks to [the vaccination] that the Swiss health system hasn’t been overburdened.”

In order not to have to start from scratch in the future, Stadler said a permanent exchange between science and politics should be institutionalised. The government’s Covid taskforce is disbanding at the end of the month, two months early that originally planned.

When asked how society would be different after the pandemic, she pointed to the wearing of masks. “In the past, none of us, except in hospital, ever wore a mask. That’s going to change. We’re much more aware that we can protect ourselves with masks. I’m convinced that we’ll see masks much more often in winter. That will remain – not as an obligation, simply as an additional means of protecting oneself.”