• Omikron is spreading in Salzburg ski areas
• Discussion about night slalom in Flachau
• Salzburger Hut highest seven-day incidence in Austria

In Salzburg, the number of new infections reported rose sharply again from Tuesday to Wednesday. As in spring 2020, the virus is currently spreading rapidly, especially in the country’s ski areas. In Flachau, where the women’s World Cup night slalom is due to take place on January 11th, the seven-day incidence in the morning was 7627 – a value at which other Salzburg municipalities had long since been placed under travel restrictions by the end of October .

But the mayor of Flachau, Thomas Oberreiter, tries to calve down. On the one hand, you have to put the numbers in relation. “We have a good 3,000 inhabitants, but there are currently 15,000 to 16,000 people in the town with our guests and staff. We are a small town at the moment.” On the other hand, of the 230 emergencies, not a single medical treatment is currently required. “Half of those affected, usually young people, are also without symptoms.”

Oberreiter is convinced that the number of infections is also likely to be similar in other tourist destinations. In Flachau, however, tests are being strengthened. “We have our own test center, where many people who have recovered or have been vaccinated also get tested regularly – for example all ski instructors,” says Oberreiter. Around 60 percent of those infected are tourism workers or ski instructors, and around 40 percent are local people.

The high number of infected people is problematic for the companies in Flachau. Several inns close due to a lack of employees. “The ski schools also run in emergency mode, there are no more group lessons,” reported the local chief. “It would therefore be important to shorten the quarantine period or – if no symptoms occur – to eliminate it completely.”

Night slalom in Flachau: “We are considering canceling”

Coronavirus and Omikron variants also hover over the night slalom on January 11th: “We are discussing whether we should cancel the race,” said Oberreiter, who is also the president of the organizing committee. But he thinks that the World Cup is safe without a spectator, also because the entourage moves in shielded areas. “A few runners have recently been infected, but a strong Covid concept should make it possible to carry out the event.”

It is unclear how many tourists or tourism workers are currently infected in the state of Salzburg. Many guests should not even be tested during their stay because of the risk of quarantine. If vacationers nevertheless test positive, they are sealed off in their rooms – or they travel home by car without stopping. “But there are a number of dead people where this is not so easily possible”, positive health officer LH-Deputy. Christian Stöckl (ÖVP) in an APA conversation on Wednesday.

If the test is positive, air travelers will not be taken on the plane. The room in the hotel is usually given again, and in some accommodations it is difficult to isolate people well. “We have to take care of meeting here,” said Stoeckl. “Unfortunately, we have no experience of how high the demand WILL be. In the previous year we prepared two hotels as quarantine quarters, but then there was no season.”

The idea of ​​converting the spa center in Goldegg into a hostel for tourists who tested positive was abandoned after protests by the regional office of the ÖGK, said Stöckl. This is what the house needs for rehabilitation after operations. “But we want to finalize 70 to 80 units this week, where we can accommodate infected holidaymakers in January and February.” Several smaller and empty standing hotels are to be converted – especially since the country’s currently only quarantine quarters in Tamsweg (Lungau) are only available until the end of January. According to the operator, the Red Cross Salzburg, 16 of 76 beds are currently occupied, but not exclusively by tourists.

Salzburger Hut highest seven-day incidence

The health authorities in the state reported 1,587 new cases on Wednesday, and in a comparison of the federal states, Salzburg again has the highest seven-day incidence in Austria. In 30 of the 119 municipalities, the incidence is over 1000. The state reports that the situation in the hospitals is still stable. A total of 60 Covid patients were in the hospital on Wednesday morning, 17 of them in the intensive care unit. However, according to experts, many new infections only have a delayed effect on hospital occupancy.

Gernot Filipp, Head of State Statistics, sums up the coronavirus situation in Salzburg as follows: “It is a very strong acceleration of the infection rate. These 1587 new infections are in the top field of the fourth wave in November, and that is just the beginning. The Omikron variant shows that full effect, there will also be very strong increases in the coming days. Regionally it still differs, but the numbers are increasing significantly in all districts. “

Young people in particular are infected

According to Filipp, it mainly affects young adults. The 7-day incidence among 15- to 24-year-olds is highest at 2,150. For those over 65, it is only 120. “The vaccination rate and new infections still correlate here. The higher the vaccination rate, the lower the incidence,” says Filipp.

The reproduction value in Salzburg is already 1.4 today. “That means ten infected people infect another 14. The virus is also spreading rapidly,” says Gernot Filipp, and adds: “This value is another indication that the numbers will also rise significantly in the coming days. It what happens what experts have been predicting weeks after the Omikron variant was discovered. “

During the fourth wave 35 children in the hospital

In the Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine of the Salzburg State Hospital, the fourth corona wave in autumn 2021 was by far the most violent. In the last quarter of the year, a total of 35 children were inpatient treatment for Covid, that is half of all cases in 2021, in which a total of 80 children and adolescents in the state were hospitalized with this diagnosis, said head Daniel Weghuber on Wednesday to the APA.

Two thirds of the children who die during the fourth wave in hospital had no previous illnesses. “The youngest child we treated as an inpatient was two weeks old. It would have died quickly,” said Weghuber. A young patient did not survive the disease. And every third Covid child at the University Hospital – there were twelve to be precise – suffered from the hyperinflammation syndrome PIMS, which is an excessive immune reaction after a Covid illness. All of these children will have intensive care treatment when, according to the clinic’s board of directors.

The 80 children treated in a Salzburg hospital in the previous year were many times as high. Only a few children are currently admitted with the diagnosis of Covid; today, for example, not a single child is in inpatient treatment.

The basic corona data in Salzburg:

1587 new infections from Tuesday to Wednesday
4550 actively infected people in the state
Reproduction number 1.4
118 of 119 municipalities affected
7-day incidence by district: Pongau (1677.1), Lungau (1173.1), Tennengau (852.6), Pinzgau (539.9), Flachgau (426.2), City of Salzburg (409.2) and State of Salzburg (694.1)
In 67 municipalities above the 7-day incidence the value of 500, in 30 municipalities it is over 1000.