Austria
“Next Ischgl wave?”: New corona case discovered in Kitzloch-Skibar
Does Ischgl have to close again? Another corona case became known over the Christmas holidays.
© Johann Groder / APA / DPA
The Austrian ski resort Ischgl hit the headlines as the first European Corona hotspot in 2020. Now a service staff there has again tested positive for the virus. The authorities are calling for testing.
Alarm in Ischgl: In March 2020, a corona outbreak in the so-called “Kitzloch” caused mass infections and made the ski club famous across Europe. Now there is a new corona case there. A service employee had tested positive for the virus, the Austrian authorities announced on Monday. The person concerned had felt symptoms since December 25th and last worked in the “Kitzloch” on December 24th. According to a report by the APA news agency, the state of Tyrol publicly called on all people who were in the bar on December 23 or 24 for a PCR test “as a precaution and to be on the safe side”.
“The next wave of Ischgl is rolling?” Said the chairman of the consumer protection association, Peter Kolba, worried. According to the APA, in a statement he also asked why “publicly asked to test” had to be made, although registration of all guests was actually mandatory. “Hasn’t a guest registration been carried out in the Kitzloch?”
Ischgl: “Transfer to the guests is unlikely”
In Ischgl and other Tyrolean winter sports locations, more than 6,000 people from 45 countries are said to have contracted the corona virus in March 2020. 32 of the infected died. Ischgl became one of the first corona hotspots in Europe. Many of those affected and their bereaved families accuse the responsible authorities of making serious mistakes in dealing with the outbreak.
Right at the beginning of the mass infections, a bartender tested positive for the corona virus in the “Kitzloch” on March 7, 2020. According to internal records, an officer from the Tyrolean Medical Association then warned that further cases were to be expected. A little later, however, the state of Tyrol sent a press release in which it said: “A transmission of the virus to the guests of the bar is rather unlikely from a medical point of view”.
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Only a few days later, Austria’s then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz put Ischgl under quarantine and called on thousands of tourists to leave within a few hours – which triggered chaotic conditions. Many people are said to have only contracted the corona virus in the crush of departure.