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The number of corona virus infections remains “dramatically high,” says the Minister of Health. The second block is slowly taking effect. Complexity researcher Klimek adds: “There is no such thing as efficiency.”
“The pandemic is not a natural disaster, nor an earthquake, nor a tsunami, where many times you feel powerless, with the pandemic we have the capacity to take countermeasures.” With these words, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) began his first press conference this week on Monday. . The reason for this: a look at the current situation of the crown in the country, on the seventh day of the second hard lockdown, also known as “Day 21 of the partial lockdown.”
Until the latter ends, it is scheduled to end on December 6, it will take another two weeks, according to Anschober. Provided that the number of new infections and deaths decreases significantly in the next fourteen days. The situation remains “dramatic” and the numbers are “dramatically high.” Specifically: in the last 24 hours, 3,145 new infections with the coronavirus were reported, 71 people died in relation to Covid-19.
“We noticed in the first steps that (the second confinement, note) is beginning to act slowly and cautiously,” Anschober said and urged the population to continue restricting social contacts, to pay attention to masks and hygiene measures as well as at minimum distances. The next two weeks are crucial, he warned: “We have to go a long way down to the end of the hard lockdown.” The key factor in this regard is the reproduction factor. You want to be well below one, ideally below 0.9 or even towards 0.8.
Anschober also expressed concern: It has been known in recent months that fewer reports are generally received on Mondays, as smaller labs do not report anything over the weekend. Your evaluations will only be included in the statistics starting Tuesday.
Klimek: “There is no efficiency”
Anschober was not made public only on Monday. After him, Peter Klimek from the Complexity Science Hub Vienna presented a study on the effectiveness of the measures. To do this, the period from March to April was examined and a comparison of more than 200 countries was made. One conclusion: “There is no efficacy,” emphasized the complexity researcher, it can never be considered a measure in isolation from everything else.
But what could definitely be said: restrictions on people gatherings, such as meetings of up to 50 people or the introduction of home offices, have been reflected more clearly. The closures of educational institutions also have had effects. However, he conceded that such closures are controversial in science because there are “side effects,” for example, that when children and young people are at home, parents must also be at home, which in turn has an effect on retail, for example, where there is a shortage of staff. .
“Safe and targeted opening” in December
Klimek also warned that with each relaxation of the measures, the risk of another wave of coronavirus infections increases. Anschober added: “Not everything will be the same as before” on December 7, but rather protective measures, “targeted and safe opening”, will be needed to avoid “encountering a third wave after the holidays.”
The numbers at a glance
According to the Ministry of Health, another 71 people died with or from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. In total, the pandemic in Austria has claimed 2,459 lives to date. In nursing homes and for the elderly, there has been an increase of four patients since Sunday (a total of 2,748 active cases).
As of Monday, 175,527 people infected with Covid-19 have recovered since the count began, according to the Interior Ministry. 4,548 people are currently being treated in a hospital for Covid-19, 685 of them in intensive care units.
New Sars-CoV-2 infections are divided as follows: Burgenland 149, Carinthia 215, Lower Austria 592, Upper Austria 558, Salzburg 242, Styria 330, Tyrol 323, Vorarlberg 157, Vienna 579.
