As of: 09/20/2021 4:51 p.m.
The past ski season was a total failure for Austria. Now a 3G rule and a mask requirement at the lifts should make winter holidays safe. Unvaccinated people still have to expect tough conditions if the pandemic situation worsens.
Austria’s government wants to enable a safe winter season including après-ski this year. To this end, the Alpine state relies on the so-called 3G rule on its ski slopes. Cable car operators are only allowed to carry those vaccinated, tested or convalesced against Covid-19, the government in Vienna announced.
There will be no distance rules and capacity restrictions for the ski lifts, but there will be an FFP2 mask requirement. If the utilization of the intensive care units with corona patients increases, the rules for unvaccinated winter sports enthusiasts will be tightened.
Disadvantages for the unvaccinated
There are currently around 200 beds with Covid 19 patients. If the number rises to 300, unvaccinated people are no longer allowed to visit après-ski bars – not even with a negative test result, said the Ministry of Health.
From this level onwards, cable cars, restaurants and hotels are no longer allowed to accept self-tests. Unvaccinated persons with an intensive occupancy rate of 400 beds or more must show negative PCR tests. The less precise antigen tests are then no longer sufficient. If the situation worsens, the government will extend the 2G rule – vaccinated or recovered – to other areas.
How the 3G rule should be checked on the cable cars without long queuing was initially unclear. The Ministry of Tourism said that a solution was still being worked on. For example, the online sale of lift tickets could be linked to an automated control of the corona status.
Important economic branch
Tourism Minister Elisabeth Köstinger was convinced that a carefree, safe winter season would be possible with these framework conditions. The goal is “that Austria is not again occupied with travel warnings,” said Köstinger. She called for vaccinations for a carefree vacation.
Ski tourism is an important industry in Austria. According to Köstinger’s ministry, more than half of all winter holidays in Europe take place in Austria. Guests from Germany play an important role in this: Before the pandemic, almost 37 percent of the overnight stays were made by Germans in the 2018/19 winter season. According to Köstinger, the 2020/21 season was a “total failure”.
Vaccination breakthrough warning
In Germany, the response to the Austrians’ plans was divided. The federal government’s tourism commissioner, Thomas Bareiß, believes that under certain conditions a winter season in the mountains including après-ski is possible. “It is therefore fundamentally right to open certain events only to groups of people who are less likely to be infected,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. In the event of an increase in the number of infections, there should be no more closings, and guests and hosts must be protected at the same time. “The vaccination remains the be-all and end-all.”
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach reacted critically to the advance. “At this point in time, nobody can reliably predict what the next winter season will look like – not even the Austrian Chancellor,” Lauterbach told the Funke newspapers. From today’s perspective, he would “rather advise against celebrating under Ischgl-like conditions” and referred to vaccination breakthroughs. The Austrian party and ski resort Ischgl became a Corona hotspot last year.
Austria’s winter season: FFP2 masks and 3G rules
Clemens Verenkotte, ARD Vienna, September 20, 2021 3:50 p.m.