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Fewer winter sports fans were on the slopes of local ski resorts on Monday than on the weekend. According to the webcam images from the ski areas, there were few skiers away from home and, unlike at the weekend, compliance with safety measures was not a problem. However, after the crowds over the weekend, the federal government criticized the cable car operators and threatened to punish them.
On Facebook, for example, entrepreneurs complained that continued lockdown would deprive them of their business base, while on the lift, at least in part, crowds would form. The Minister of Health, Rudolf Anschober (Greens), also spoke on Monday of the images of the ski lifts “that I do not want to see anymore.” In a press release, Anschober said: “Many operators at ski resorts are performing correctly according to specifications, but yesterday some of them delivered terrifying images that should not be repeated.” Close cooperation between the health authorities and the executive must ensure compliance with the regulations. It also gave “excellent” images of compliance with the regulations, the health minister said at a press meeting on Monday.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) also spoke and threatened to punish them in a broadcast: “There are good reasons why there are strict regulations for the operation of the lifts. However, if the operators of the individual lifts do not comply with the rules and are not properly prepared, then it cannot be left without consequences. ” According to the Minister of Tourism, Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP), the operators have prepared “the best possible”. “When improvements are needed to ensure the highest possible safety, these measures are implemented as quickly as possible by federal states, local authorities and operators.” In any case, the opening of the ski areas was well received over the weekend.
For example, an Upper Carinthia jeweler posted on Facebook Sunday evening: “I run a small family business in retail and I take Covid measures seriously and implement them in my business with insight and to the best of my knowledge and understand”. Now it should be kept closed. He is pleased that ski areas can be opened under certain conditions. That worked when his family visited a ski area in the box and on the gondola yesterday. But she and her family were “horrified” by the “image we were presented with at the elevator valley stations.”
There were information panels about distance rules. The employees did not control the rules. “A lot of people didn’t wear a mask here.” On the chairlift, a stranger smashed into family members twice. “No one has let people know that at least one seat should be vacated between other homes.” It is clear that all skiers would never abide by the distance rules. But such a situation is “a slap in the face” for the retailers and restaurants that have to have them, according to the businessman on Facebook. “The point is that the rules must be controlled,” he told the APA on Monday.
