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It is a clear sign of how dramatically the situation for the crown in Austria has worsened. The commission, which provides the basis for the crown semaphore with its assessment of the data, will convene for a special meeting this Monday evening just four days after its last consultation. At the moment, there will be no further tightening for the population because the measures that Turquesa-Verde announced at the national level last Friday did not come into force until Monday.
Corona’s traffic light is only damaged one week after its first use. Even Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz admitted on Sunday night on “ZiB2” that the traffic lights were causing confusion among Austrians. In fact, the federal government itself has screwed up, if not totally smashed, the crown traffic light. Health Minister Rudi Anschober (Greens) has been playing a key role in ensuring that the Corona traffic light is ready to be scrapped for weeks.
This is corroborated by the facts: with the strictest measures it has imposed throughout Austria, it has rendered the Corona traffic light obsolete and reduced it to absurdity, even for the vast majority of Austrian districts, which are colored green according to the system of traffic lights. It was more or less the opposite of what Anschober inoculated to the population in recent weeks: that they can read at the traffic lights of their district and region, what risk of corona exists and what specific rules must be observed. The main operator of this adjustment at the national level and therefore an assistant in the dismantling of the traffic light system was the government and the head of the ÖVP, Sebastian Kurz.
Next misstep
The Minister of Health is now taking the next step to damage and dismantle the traffic light system. As announced Sunday at the ORF press hour, suburban metropolitan areas will be included in the future corona risk assessment as the basis for the corona traffic light. This makes the district classification system even more difficult for citizens to understand than before.
Because already now, not only new corona infections are included in the traffic light change, but also other criteria, in particular the burden on hospitals by those who suffer from corona. This will also be complicated and difficult because, for example, it is difficult to define where the Vienna suburbs end. In Mödling or Baden, in the southern immediate vicinity of the federal capital or in the area of Wiener Neustadt or Neunkirchen, from where many Lower Austrians travel to work in Vienna and vice versa? Or north of the Danube in Korneuburg or at least in the Waldviertel districts, where many employees also work in Vienna? The same applies to the surroundings of Graz or Innsbruck.
Misunderstanding in the federal states
Furthermore, there are growing political problems between the federal government and the federal states due to the traffic light system. Carinthia Governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) declared on Friday after the announcement of the nationwide measures that people would not understand this and that he himself was now confused. Now that can be classified by the ÖVP and the Greens at the federal level as an expected criticism of a high-level SPÖ politician whose party in the federal government is in opposition.
However, the next day, the governor of Salzburg, Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP), expressed his misunderstanding that Salzburg, where the Corona traffic light is green for all districts, also supports stricter regulations, such as protection of the mouth and nose in all stores. Has to.
The Corona traffic light suffers from considerable design flaws from the outset. In July, Federal Chancellor Kurz prohibited the Minister of Health from making public statements about the presentation of the traffic light system to the Council of Summer Ministers on July 29. After the government meeting, Anschober was unable to present any details, but only postponed a test from August. Critics of the federal states mockingly got to the point that now they only know the traffic light colors green, yellow, orange and red.
High popularity ratings
After being on par with Kurz in sympathy ratings since Corona’s shutdown in March, thanks to his no-nonsense and confidence-inspiring demeanor, Anschober was ennobled by the media as the new political star of the Greens. The “star” externally could not do justice to the work in his health department internally. The parts of the Crown ordinances repealed by the Constitutional Court came from the Ministry of Health. In addition, there was the fact that the bill for the new crown rules and the amendment to the epidemic law were again massively criticized by constitutional experts.
In addition, there is this legislative package, which also includes instruments to implement regional crown traffic light measures, weeks behind schedule. Although the Corona traffic light was activated for the first time in the first week of September, the decision on the legal basis in the National Council is only scheduled for September 23.
There was still no trace of opposition parties’ involvement in parliament, as promised by the Health Minister in his “statement” in early September. It was only this morning that Anschober met with the opposition on the Corona law package. The parliamentary health commission is scheduled for Thursday this week. Anchober will have to give MPs and Austrians good arguments for the traffic light system after it has been mistreated by the federal government.
