Corona lockdown only for unvaccinated people – Austria takes action
pandemic
Lockdown for the unvaccinated: Austria increases the pressure
In Austria there should be restrictions, even lockdowns for unvaccinated people. A corresponding project has already been decided.
Vienna. It was a firework of number records Austria experienced towards the end of this week. There are records that are frightening: the incidence is now 317, as far as the number of new infections is concerned, the situation is approaching the peaks of the disastrous second wave of autumn 2020; Almost 6,000 new infections were reported on Friday, the highest value since November 2020, and the hospital occupancy rate is also in critical areas.
You don’t see the “pandemic in our rear-view mirror”, asks Austria’s Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg. “We are on the verge of stumbling into a pandemic of the unvaccinated without any need.”
Unvaccinated: Austria takes action
And now measures are to come that are only for Unvaccinated apply – up to “exit restrictions”. A lockdown that should only apply to part of the population. The federal government decided on a corresponding project in Vienna on Friday. Schallenberg, however, ruled out lockdowns for those who had been vaccinated or recovered. As well as school closings.
Measures are specifically planned in five levels – based on the occupancy of the Intensive care units: From a generally expanded FFP2 mask requirement, a restriction of the test validity (no recognition of antigen tests) and a ban on entry for night-time catering, for example, to extensive exit restrictions for unvaccinated people. Unavoidable access restrictions for unvaccinated persons – including phase 4 – are to apply from an occupancy of 500 intensive care beds; Exit restrictions – including phase 5 – from an occupancy of 600. Austria is currently at 264 (as of Saturday) – but there have been massive increases in the past few days.
Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) calls for the thrust of the campaign as follows: “Our primary goal is to continue to increase the vaccination rate in Austria.” die Vaccination rate Is actually the country’s big problem area: just 65 percent have received a first dose. And it is at this value. According to a study by the “Austrian Corona Panel Project” at the University of Vienna, the pool of people willing to vaccinate is practically exhausted. Currently around 85 percent of patients in intensive care units in Austria are not fully vaccinated.
And so recently practically all Corona-related measures aimed at precisely this point: First the 3G rule implemented in a hurry for the workplace. It will be gold-plated from November 1st. From now on, employees in practically all occupational fields must also present proof of vaccination, a certificate of recovery or a valid test. An abolition of the free tests was also debated in order to increase the pressure on those unwilling to be vaccinated – but they will die for the time being. And in the future, the figures for those vaccinated will be shown on the dashboard of the Ministry of Health on pandemic development in order to make the effectiveness of the vaccination also graphically visible.
Austria: Can the step-by-step plan be implemented?
That was decided now Step-by-step plan the federal government is in question, however, is the implementation. Phase 5, in particular, cannot be carried out in practice. For example, the police unions in Vienna have already announced that no controls will be carried out in the capital. That exceeds the capacities. You have other things to do.
Critical voices also came from the ÖVP-dominated countries: Above all, the demand for more speed in the implementation of measures according to. Individual federal states are already implementing stricter measures on their own – which, however, thwarted the phased plan sought by the federal government and thus the general clarity through an automatic mechanism.
From the state side, the Styrian Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer (ÖVP) in particular, who made a clear broadside against ex-Chancellor Kurz, made people sit up and take notice. He demands more speed from the federal government pandemic Already declared over in the summer – a clear indication of a repeatedly criticized statement by the then Chancellor at the beginning of September.