Covid: Corona traffic light again shows high risk for all of Austria
This year’s corona autumn wave is building up more and more. The Corona Commission also followed this on Thursday and included all of Austria with a high risk – i.e. orange. A week ago the country was still yellow. As a result, the federal states of Burgenland, Salzburg, Styria and Vienna are also rated as having a high risk. The federal states of Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Tyrol and Vorarlberg are rated as medium risk.
The load on the intensive care units on Wednesday was a Covid-specific occupancy rate of 3.9 percent based on all reported adult intensive care beds in Austria. In the normal wards, 5.1 percent of the beds were occupied by people infected with Covid. According to the forecast, there will be a further significant increase in the number of cases and infected people in the normal care area.
If this development continues, the Corona Commission recommends taking suitable countermeasures. The experts reiterated that an FFP2 mask requirement, especially in public transport, in grocery stores and in pharmacies, should be considered as a non-restrictive but highly effective measure.
vaccination and medication
In addition, the importance of the corona vaccination and the available Covid medication was again emphasized. Both make a significant contribution to protection against serious illnesses and thus protect the hospitals from overload or staff shortages. In this context, the activities to increase the use of vaccination (start of a new vaccination campaign) and medicines (specific information and education of the medical profession) are welcomed. The measures recommend taking further measures to increase the use of corona drugs, for example through targeted information and education of the population, especially vulnerable people.
The Corona Commission once again points out the importance of using the Covid-19 register, since statements on vaccination effectiveness as well as reliable published analyses, forecasts and long-term simulations can only be made on the basis of reliable information on virulence or hospitalization rate and duration. The increasing number of registrations in this register is welcomed, but there is still a need for optimization in this regard. The data and evaluations can be viewed at
In order to protect yourself and others and to counteract the increase in the number of cases, the Corona Commission again recommends wearing the FFP2 mask, especially on public transport, in heavily frequented indoor areas and when in contact with vulnerable people. The still broad and low-threshold range of tests should be used more frequently again. A test should be carried out at least in the case of Covid-19-specific symptoms, but also before meeting vulnerable people or larger groups of people. In the opinion of the Corona Commission, every individual can use these measures to protect themselves and the population and thus make a valuable contribution to combating the pandemic.