TIROLER ZEITUNG “Editorial” from March 24, 2022 by Wolfgang Sablatnig “Failure affects us all”
Innsbruck (OTS) – The new Health Minister Rauch single-handedly announced new tightening of the corona measures. Implementation ends in nowhere. Has the government learned nothing from two years of pandemic?
Johannes Rauch has only been in office for a good two weeks as Minister of Health – and has already failed due to the pandemic. With him, the entire federal government has finally lost its credibility. Instead, a new campaign for vaccination is coming. Against the background of the next stomach spot in the measures, this can only sound like mockery.
We remember: Johannes Rauch started with the advance praise of the political professional. With his realistic announcements at the start, he seemed to live up to expectations. He knew he couldn’t hope for a grace period. Under he claimed that he would not lose his bearings in the depths of politics: “I know the ÖVP. I know what that means, with all the difficulties.”
Rauch underestimated these difficulties – or overestimated himself. What happened? The most recent joint effort by the turquoise-green coalition was compulsory vaccination. It even succeeded in winning SPÖ and NEOS for the goal.
The obligation to vaccinate had not yet been decided, when the weaning movement began. Omikron had reshuffled the cards. Suddenly there were more and more triple vaccinated people with a sore throat and a positive test at home. And the government became afraid of its own courage.
Then openings came into effect amid rising infection numbers – and the numbers kept rising. The openings came two weeks early, Rauch said – but he couldn’t reverse them. Added to this was the resentment among the experts who felt abused by the government.
Rauch claimed with a mixture of humility, apology and offense. He was given another chance by the experts on the Gecko Panel. But otherwise he sat between all chairs. His mistake:
He was trying to single-handedly create facts. Maybe he expected to get support from the Turquoises. Apparently he doesn’t know the ÖVP that well. He single-handedly announced the return of the mask requirement and the relaxation of quarantine rules. So he should pay for it alone.
Another minister failed. If only it were that easy. Every show in Corona politics affects us all. After all, all of our living conditions are affected. And if the ÖVP and Karl Nehammer believe that they can blame the health ministers and the Greens for this failure, they are mistaken: many still consider the chancellor to be the boss. He is always responsible.
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