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In an urgent request from the Neos in the National Council, the Minister of Health commented on the management of the federal government crown.
Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) admitted errors in the National Council on Wednesday in answering Neos’ “urgent question” on the federal government’s crown management and the Ischgl cause. “It certainly didn’t go well on this issue,” said Anschober, who repeatedly referred to the extraordinary situation at the time.
“Yes, mistakes have occurred there,” Anschober said. Many of the criticisms of the expert report are “understandable” to him. These would affect “mainly” the state of Tyrol, but also things that fall under the federal government. From today’s perspective, the criticism is partly understandable, but it was also challenging work at the time. The authorities have achieved a lot, but they have also learned a lot. “We take this investigative report absolutely seriously,” said the Health Minister. The process of implementing the recommendations of the expert commission has already started and will now be implemented accordingly in cooperation with the State of Tyrol.
General information on the Tyrol quarantine
Anschober noted that there was an “exceptional special situation” from early to mid-March. At that time there was less information or sometimes different information from experts, such as the mask requirement. Their attitudes and views on individual measures also changed in the course of the pandemic. The time factor and speed are a great challenge during a pandemic. However, the numbers showed that Austria weathered the pandemic comparatively well. “I am proud of everyone who contributed to this.”
In the run-up to the press conference on March 13, in which Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) reported on the quarantine for the Paznaun Valley and St. Anton am Arlberg, there was a video conference with the country managers. The Tyrolean governor, Günther Platter (ÖVP), reported on the closure of the ski areas. This was followed by a meeting between Kurz, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and himself, in which it was concluded that the quarantine should be imposed on Tyrolean sites. Then Kurz spoke to Platter on the phone. Crisis teams had also been briefed and the Landeck district administration had initiated appropriate measures, Anschober said.
Anschober wants more speed with testing and contact tracing
“As important as looking back is … it is crucial to see where we are now.” According to Anschober, a difficult phase is now beginning again. Almost a third of the new infections were reported in Europe. For this reason, for example, much more testing personnel are required to increase the speed of contact tracing. The goal is “that we now take the appropriate measures so that a second lockdown is not necessary,” Anschober said.
As Neos health spokesman Gerald Loacker had previously said, in the reasoning of the request, thanks to the expert report on the Ischgl case, “black and white”, there have been errors at all levels, that is, federal authorities , state and local. The state parliament should clarify what went wrong in Tyrol, Loacker said: “We are seeing what went wrong in the federal government.” In this sense, the commission of experts also lists a series of errors, such as a “very old” epidemic law or the lack of anti-pandemic plans. But even the “slippage” of the Federal Chancellor, who was not actually responsible, without the knowledge of the responsible authorities, caused chaos.
Neos refers to 11,000 infections with a history of Ischgl
The federal government believes that crisis management will be done through press conferences. This was also the case with the announcement of the quarantine on March 13. According to Loacker, nothing had been agreed, there was no plan. There was only the announcement that the rest was chaos. “They made sure the virus was exported successfully,” Loacker said, noting that 11,000 infections in Europe date back to Ischgl.
In general, announcements other than those established in the regulations were made repeatedly at federal government press conferences. “As a citizen I was condemned to a constant legal investigation,” criticized the Rosa health spokesperson. That led to uncertainty. “Today we are essentially where we were in March.” Uncertainty is constantly spreading.
(WHAT)
