Wednesday 17th November 2021
Seven-day incidence at 900
Austria argues about curfew for everyone
The lockdown for unvaccinated people in Austria has just been in place for two days, as Health Minister Mückstein is calling for nocturnal curfews for everyone. Chancellor Schallenberg is initially strictly against it, but is then more open. Meanwhile, the incidence continues to climb.
Shortly after the introduction of ever stricter corona measures for unvaccinated people in Austria, many doctors are calling for further restrictions for the general population. The Green Minister of Health Wolfgang Mückstein wants to evaluate the pandemic situation and the effect of the latest Covid rules on Wednesday. With his latest push for a nightly curfew for everyone, he caused a row with Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and his conservative ÖVP, which is resisting a general lockdown.
At the beginning of the month, the 3G rule was introduced in the workplace. Companies need to check that their staff has been vaccinated, recovered from Covid-19 or tested. On November 8th, the 2G rule for bars, tourism, sports facilities and events followed, where unvaccinated people no longer have access. And since Monday, people without vaccination have been obliged to lockdown. You are only allowed to leave the house for work and urgent errands.
Salzburg has an incidence value of almost 1600
The sharp increase in vaccination numbers in recent days has not yet slowed the rapid spread of the virus. The seven-day incidence last climbed above 900 for the first time. In Salzburg it reached an Austria-wide peak at just under 1600. Salzburg clinics are preparing triage procedures to decide which patients are allowed to occupy the scarce hospital beds and which must be turned away. In other federal states, too, some operations have already been postponed.
The association of intensive care physicians and hospital doctors therefore called for harder cuts to break the fourth wave. The Director General for Public Health in the Ministry of Health, Katharina Reich, also called for evening exit restrictions for everyone. “I think we need that,” she told ORF on Tuesday evening. Instead of restricting vaccinated people, the aim must be to get unvaccinated people to have the first stab, said Chancellor Schallenberg in parliament on Tuesday. However, he did not brush the demands of Mückstein, who is himself a doctor, off the table quite as brusquely as he did a few days ago. “We will of course monitor the situation very closely,” he said. If necessary, it can be sharpened.