Discussion on new measures in view of high crown numbers – Austria –

Free trials for a shorter quarantine are being considered in preparation for a second “worst case” lockdown. Styrian Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer (ÖVP) received outright rejection on Tuesday with his push for controls and options for intervention in the private sector.

Schützenhöfer called for a “constitutionally viable way” in the “Kurier” to be able to intervene in the private sector if the crown rules are violated. He “does not want to look in the bedroom, but if excesses are celebrated at private parties in a basement or in a garden shed, you have to be able to solve it”, the ÖVP politician considers that the “restrictions on freedom” are entirely justifiable in the face of Corona’s challenges.

Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) does not share this position: the Covid Measures Law excludes controls in private homes, and that is “fundamentally correct”, he said in the Ö1 “Morgenjournal”. He believed that “the vast majority of people are capable of following clear recommendations.”

The opposition also rejected Schützenhöfer’s initiative: for the SPÖ, “espionage in private spaces is excluded,” said party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner. “The ÖVP apparently wants to break into private apartments under the guise of a crown,” said FPÖ club president Herbert Kickl Schützenhöfer, “Austro-fascist surveillance fantasies.” The head of the Styrian NEOS club, Niko Swatek, rejected – under the criticism of the “fantasies of omnipotence of the ÖVP” – the constitutionally compatible possibilities for intervention in the private sphere.

Shortening the quarantine from ten to five days after the “free trials” is more likely to be implemented. As Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) said at the weekend, the government has just verified this, but only implemented it if it is scientifically justifiable. The ÖVP-Wirtschaftsbund would be very much in favor. A growing number of people are in isolation from the crown – “in November it could be 200,000” – threatening entire branches of the economy to collapse.

A second blockade is already being discussed. SPÖ leader Rendi-Wagner called on the government to prepare accordingly in a press conference. It should meet with the social partners, businesses and local authorities in due time and develop a plan on how to minimize the economic and social consequences. The governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser (SPÖ), also demanded in a transmission from the federal government “a plan B just in case”, which involves the states and the population.

However, Anschober sees Austria still “far away”: according to the law, a lockdown is only possible when the health system is on the verge of collapse. I would only recognize an overload when intensive care beds were used 60 to 70 percent, “there is still air.” If Covid 19 infections continue to rise, more restrictive measures will be taken, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) said at the weekend, and the lockdown is the last measure for him.

This would also “extremely strain” the Austrian economy, Wifo boss Christoph Badelt explained on Tuesday. Economic output would fall much more dramatically this year, by more than 9 percent instead of 6.8 percent, and next year there would be a threat of stagnation instead of a 4.4 percent increase. In view of the infection’s high growth rates, the government must take massive countermeasures. If the numbers stay that high, winter tourism will collapse, and that means an “even more massive economic crisis.”

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