Lockdown for everyone in Upper Austria and Salzburg
IIn Austria, the federal states of Salzburg and Upper Austria have announced that they will impose a general lockdown from next week due to the threat of overburdening the hospitals. So far, as in the other regions, the “lockdown for unvaccinated people” has applied. That has proven to be insufficient to bring about an immediate improvement in the situation. The clinics in the two federal states have sounded the alarm and in some cases made preparations for triage decisions.
Whether appropriate measures will be taken for all of Austria will be decided this Friday at a meeting of the government with the provincial governors. So far, the Chancellor’s party ÖVP has opposed the fact that vaccinated people are restricted. The Greens with Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein, on the other hand, are calling for exactly that, in order to achieve a reduction in contact, which is deemed necessary by virologists.
U-turn of the Salzburg governor
But now the two ÖVP governors from Salzburg and Linz, Wilfried Haslauer and Thomas Stelzer, have rushed ahead. In their countries, the corona situation is out of control. A week ago, Salzburg Governor Haslauer in particular resisted closings and polemically accused virologists of “preferring to lock everyone up”.
The Upper Austrian governor Stelzer announced on Thursday morning that he would campaign for a nationwide lockdown. If it were not possible to come to an agreement, Upper Austria and Salzburg would “go into a lockdown lasting several weeks” from next week onwards. It is important to protect health, life and the health system. “We have very, very little leeway.”
Haslauer confirmed that the hard lockdown will apply to the entire population and to all areas. “Today we have another enormous development in numbers. We don’t see any alternative to a lockdown beginning next week, ”Haslauer told the Austria Press Agency. The duration will still be calculated with experts. The Salzburg governor assures: “I fought to prevent us from going into a lockdown. With these numbers, an overload of the hospitals is foreseeable. ”The measures recently taken by the federal government and the state of Salzburg are not taking effect as quickly as hoped. “We also need time so that vaccinations run smoothly.”