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The federal government has so far not shown a good hand with massive testing. The first attempt in early December did not even get a quarter of the population to the test stations, so the expected epidemiological effect has completely faded. The second attempt was originally planned for January 8, but since the lockdown was not only extended before Christmas, but also tightened (no commerce, no classroom teaching until January 18), it was postponed the date for the mass test. To increase participation, this time an incentive was established, namely so-called “free trials”. Bottom line: examinees would have been allowed to go to a pub or theater earlier. After extensive criticism from the opposition and also from academia, the plan was again abandoned. For all the above idea of the mass test.
1. Why did the “Freestyle” plan fail?
To exclude people with a current negative test result from the entry ban, an amendment to the Covid-19 Measures Act would have been necessary. The ÖVP and the Greens have a majority in the National Council, but not in the regional chamber. Since all the opposition parties announced that they wanted to block the law in the Federal Council, the government withdrew its plan. The “free trial” would only have been possible after weeks and after a rejection in the Federal Council by a persistent resolution of the National Council (and most of the ruling parties), too late for the planned start of the mass test on 15 from January.
2. Why was the opposition against it?
The reasons for the holidays are different. While the FPÖ rejected freestyle from the outset and saw it as a “doorway to a free vaccination”, the SPÖ more recently favored an extension of the lockdown, at least until the number of new infections is “stable by below 1,000, “as party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner put it. . With this law, the Neos wanted “no longer to give the Health Minister the authority to issue regulations,” said social spokesman Gerald Loacker. The opposition was united in its criticism of the ÖVP and the Greens in the very short evaluation period of just three days. This was also the reason for the unanimous rejection. Of the ruling parties, only the ÖVP reacted angrily, and the Greens themselves seemed less than convinced of the idea in the end. The opposition had “been closed down,” said ÖVP club coach August Wöginger. The head of the Vienna ÖAAB, Hannes Taborsky, even spoke of “deprivation of liberty of the opposition.”
What did the evaluation show?
Despite the short testing time, there was lively participation in the evaluation. In some cases, however, there were also many de facto identical statements from individuals, and the servant of Parliament was also overwhelmed over the weekend. There must have been a coordinated action here. Critical comments also came in from some federal states, including “blacks” like Vorarlberg and Tyrol. Furthermore, the constitutional service based in the Federal Chancellery had some fundamental objections. There was also skepticism about the project from the scientific side. Virologist Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl, who is on the Corona Advisory Council of the Ministry of Health, came across the term “free trial”, which would send the wrong signals, on “ZiB 2” on Sunday. A negative antigen test result is only reliable for up to one day, after that no more. However, according to the government’s plan, a negative test on January 17 would qualify for a visit to the local restaurant on January 23.
Is the lockdown now longer than planned?
Formally, not really, but in fact it is. The federal government announced a total closure until January 24 before Christmas, but gastronomy, culture and retail were able to reopen a week earlier. Exclusively for those who have a recent negative test or have had a corona infection and, as presumed immune, therefore do not present a risk of infection. This was intended to encourage participation in the second edition of the massive tests. However, given that the infrastructure for social contacts of all kinds would be available as of January 18, it could hardly have been spoken of a blockade in reality. Especially since it was not clear until the end who should have controlled this requirement.
A conflict broke out between the police and the business community, which Foreign Minister Sebastián Kurz tried to resolve by holding the regional health authorities responsible for monitoring. But these are already very stressed by the tests and the contact tracing, so Vienna has already rejected it and announced that it would ask the police for help in case of an emergency. However, that could have been in most of the random samples, which is why the effect of the measure was questionable from the start.
What’s next in schools?
It is not yet clear. The face-to-face class should start again on January 18. Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP) also referred to this legal situation on Monday. School starts on January 7, but only with distance education. Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) still did not want to commit. The reason for the renewed uncertainty is not the longer lockdown, but the still high incidence in Austria and the new danger from the apparently more infectious variant of the virus, which has now also been detected in Austria. Faßmann announced on Monday full and regular tests in schools with new antigen testing procedures that do not involve a smear on the throat but on the anterior nasal area. This is more tolerable for children.
Are mass testing really being done?
Yes, maybe, but maybe not. After a meeting between the provincial governors and the federal government on Monday, Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) of Carinthia reported that the dates (January 15-17) for the tests “may be eliminated or postponed for a week.” In any case, Upper Austria canceled the tests, Lower Austria did not. The ministry said the large-scale tests “will not go as planned.” The government is still convinced of the concept of mass testing, in the sense of doing a lot of testing, and is moving away from the idea of population screening as it was in early December. In any case, it is planned to establish a permanent infrastructure for testing, so that often everyone can be tested free of charge. As is well known, the demand was very high before Christmas. In some professional groups there might also be mandatory testing in the future, so far this has only been the case in nursing homes. A recent negative test result might also be required for certain events, for example in the cultural sector.
Could the blockade be extended further?
The pressure from business is now at least as big as the budget deficit, both reasons for an early end to the lockdown. However, the number of cases is still too high to speak of a control over the infection process. In Germany, the lockdown is likely to last until the end of January, which is also putting pressure on the Austrian government. It also makes sense from an epidemiological point of view if there was coherence within the EU, as hundreds of researchers are now calling for.
Another point that speaks in favor of a longer lockdown are two new variants of the virus, one from South Africa and the other from England. Both mutations have already been detected in Austria, as Anschober explained at a press conference on Monday. It happened with what might be assumed, where sewage studies fuel the hope that these two variants are not yet very common in Austria. That can change quickly. In any case, the scientific evidence is stable that both virus mutations are substantially more infectious.
