{"id":15263,"date":"2021-02-19T09:31:56","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T09:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/wordpress\/?p=15263"},"modified":"2024-10-30T07:23:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T07:23:00","slug":"science-pandemic-task-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/science-pandemic-task-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Science in Pandemic Mode: The Strange Case of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Analysis and commentary
\nby Catherine Riva, Serena Tinari \u2013 Re-Check.ch
\n<\/span>February 19, 2021<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

PDF download<\/a> \/ Lire l\u2019article en fran\u00e7ais (en ligne<\/a> \/ PDF<\/a>) \/ Den Artikel auf Deutsch lesen (online<\/a> \/ PDF<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force, a group of experts that is supposed to inform decision-makers about the scientific evidence in the coronavirus crisis, continues to enjoy extraordinary visibility and influence in the daily lives of the Swiss in an unprecedented way. A debate on its legitimacy and its role appears more necessary than ever. Above all, it is high time to critically examine the quality of its scientific work.<\/em><\/p>\n

In less than a year, the Swiss media have elevated some researchers to the rank of VIP. Whereas in January 2020, the names of Marcel Salath\u00e9, Jacques Fellay, Christian Althaus, Didier Trono, Samia Hurst-Majno, Richard Neher, Nicola Low, Martin Ackermann or Matthias Egger were virtually unknown to the general public, today almost everyone in Switzerland knows who these experts members of the Task Force are.<\/p>\n

According to the Horizons<\/em><\/a> magazine of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Swiss media database SMD has more than 1,400 entries for Marcel Salath\u00e9 and around 700 entries for Christian Althaus (who left the Task Force in January 2021) for the period January to June 2020 alone. These record figures illustrate the findings of the report \u201cQuality of the Media, Yearbook 2020\u201d<\/a>, published by the Center for Public Domain and Society Research (f\u00f6g) of the University of Zurich: since February 2020, the media have become highly dependent on experts, and when it comes to the COVID-19 crisis, the first to be called upon in Switzerland are the members of the Task Force.<\/p>\n

The official mission of these researchers is to advise the Federal Council, the cantons and the federal administration in the COVID-19 crisis by means of recommendations that are supposed to be based on scientific evidence. However, the Task Force rarely limits itself to providing advice. Since February 2020, not a month goes by without one of its members, or even the entire collective, actively giving voice to the media (as for instance here<\/a> in June, here<\/a> July, here<\/a> in August, here<\/a> in September, here<\/a> in October, here<\/a> in November and here<\/a> in December 2020).<\/p>\n

Most often, it is to paint a threatening picture of the situation, criticize the measures decreed by the authorities and demand stricter ones.<\/p>\n\n\t\t