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Four men, four serious expressions: The turquoise-green quartet entered single file into the congress hall of the Federal Chancellery to brief the media behind Plexiglas on the first Council of Ministers after the summer holidays. Anyway, there was only one theme: Crown. For the first time in a long time, Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Interior Minister Karl Nehammer of the ÖVP appeared together, as well as Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler and Health Minister Rudi Anschober of the Greens. This appearance of four people alone should signal to Austrians that the situation with corona infections has worsened.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” Kurz initially repeated his optimistic forecast on Friday, which was based on next summer. Until then, however, you have to survive the colder seasons. “We all have to work together to make sure we get through the fall safely,” warned the head of government.
Recommendation on more stringent mandatory measures
This set the tone and purpose for the quartet’s march on this brilliant Wednesday in September. Austrians were strongly advised to crack down further on the Crown measures in the fall and winter so that the government would not have to resort to mandatory restrictions again. The most important advice was aimed at the private sector. At family celebrations or other private gatherings, such as watching soccer together, a maximum of 25 people should be present. Following the Council of Ministers, Kurz urged Austrians to “conduct private celebrations with common sense.” When asked, he did not want to see any contradiction with the legal requirements later: “You need clear rules. Thank God, there is common sense. I don’t see either one.”
At the moment, the turquoise green depends on the personal responsibility of the people. The tightening of measures to contain the corona infections pointed out by Kurz on Monday will not initially take place. However, the chancellor had no illusions. Because with the start of the Corona traffic light on Friday with the colors green, yellow, orange and red, the possibility is created to proceed locally with stricter regulations depending on the situation in Corona.
At the end of the press conference, Kurz even gave a guarantee that such situations would arise in the fall. “Of course, we will see stronger legally binding measures in the affected regions. That I can guarantee you today. Anything else would be a miracle,” the foreign minister said. That could mean, for example, restrictions on partying in bars.
After Kurz and Anschober were recently in the spotlight due to the corona epidemic, Vice Chancellor Kogler also contributed his warning in the usual and realistic way after the Cabinet: when retired to a closed place, the virus “hugs you”. People need to “focus more on mindfulness.” Otherwise, stricter measures should be taken. As Health Minister, Anschober also provided practical advice such as ventilation: “23, 24, 25 degrees, that’s too much.” The most important rules for the fall are the rules of hygiene and a minimum distance. If this is not possible, the mouth and nose protection should be put on. Home Secretary Karl Nehammer was assigned the role of Rambo in the quartet. The Interior Minister said in a suitably sharp tone that “the pressure of control will be further tightened in compliance with the quarantine for people.”
Some common-sense Austrians will now wonder why indoor events with up to 5,000 spectators have been allowed since the beginning of September, while the government strongly recommends a maximum limit of 25 people for private celebrations. The green duo Kogler-Anschober justified this by stating that authorities had to come up with their own prevention concepts, including contact tracing for events.
Two more phone calls with the governors
Is it true that the ÖVP wanted more legal obligations and the Greens more recommendations? Kurz and Kogler rejected the question unanimously. “The coalition traffic light is turquoise green,” said the chancellor with a clever smile.
It is unclear what color the Corona traffic light will show in individual districts through Friday. Fine tuning is still in progress. As we learned, a phone call to the governors was scheduled for Wednesday night. On Thursday he will advise the commission of experts, which prepares the semaphore proposals for politicians in the face of the current situation of the crown. With heads of state recently complaining about a lack of information from the federal government, Anschober is scheduled to report back to heads of state by phone on Thursday evening.
The Governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser (SPÖ), already urged in a video conference on Monday that cultural and sports organizers should also be able to plan with the Corona traffic light. Furthermore, there were still some issues to be clarified. For example: What happens if a student from a district with a red light goes to school in a district with a green light? The population will find the answer to the riddle on Friday.
