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Ischgl is believed to be the place where hundreds of European skiers became infected
Austria has lifted strict quarantine at three ski resorts in Tyrol that were coronavirus hot spots.
All three include Ischgl, known as the “Ibiza of the Alps,” where hundreds of tourists from across Europe are believed to have been infected.
The resorts of St Anton am Arlberg, Sölden and the Paznaun Valley, which surrounds Ischgl, have been closed since mid-March.
They will now be subject to the same blocking rules as the rest of Austria.
Earlier this month, the Austrian public health agency said Ischgl was the source of the country’s largest group of coronavirus cases, infecting more than 600 Austrians and up to twice as many people abroad, particularly in Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
Foreign skiers took the coronavirus home with them.
The Tyrolean provincial government said in a statement Tuesday that there were only 10 positive cases in the past 12 days.
Overall, Austria has not fared too badly during this pandemic. He says he has managed to flatten the infection curve, and has reported around 500 deaths in total, less than many countries report in a single day.
As a result, restrictions are slowly easing. Small stores are now open again, and there are plans to open all stores in early May, followed by restaurants in the middle of the month.
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But local politicians admit that mistakes were made at the ski resorts in Tirol.
How the Ischgl outbreak spread
Local authorities in Tirol have been accused of responding very slowly after the virus started spreading in crowded après-ski bars in February and March:
- March 5th: Iceland put Ischgl on a list of coronavirus risk areas, after a group of skiers apparently detected the infection there
- 7 of March: A bartender at a bar after skiing named Kitzloch tested positive for Covid-19. Kitzloch was ordered to close two days later.
- March 13: The Paznaun valley, including Ischgl, and the tourist center of St Anton am Arlberg were quarantined, followed a few days later by Sölden
- Foreign tourists were still allowed to leave, further spreading the virus.
Who was Patient Zero?
At a press conference earlier this month, Franz Allerberger of the Austrian Agency for Food Safety and Health (Ages) said it was clear that the virus was present in ski resorts before the waiter in Kitzloch was positive in March.
He said Patient Zero was believed to be an Austrian waitress who started showing symptoms on February 8. Authorities in Tirol dispute this, saying that the first case appeared on March 7. They say they took radical measures in a timely manner.
The Austrian government has promised an investigation into what happened in Tyrol.
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The Tyrolean government has declared 10 cases in the last 12 days.
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Known as the “Ibiza of the Alps”, Ischgl is famous for its après-ski bars
Meanwhile, the Austrian Consumer Protection Association, VSV, is gathering signatures for a possible class action lawsuit, arguing that the ski resorts in Tyrol were kept open for commercial reasons, despite the Covid-19 outbreak.
He says he sent a description of the events to the Prosecutor’s Office in Vienna “against the Tyrolean authorities.”
VSV’s Peter Kolba says almost 5,000 people have signed up. Most of them, over 3,400, come from Germany, and the list also includes nearly 400 Dutch and more than 120 British.
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