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Austria faces a significant tightening of crown measures. According to Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the details will not be released until Saturday after talks with the social partners (today), state governors and other parties (tomorrow), the ON already reported in detail yesterday.
One of the planned measures is the night curfew. It could take up to four weeks. Because it still gives the restaurant industry freedom, I would welcome the economy.
But it could also go further: a “closing light” as in Switzerland or Germany, where only schools, kindergartens and retailers are open, is also under discussion.
TV broadcast on October 29, 2020
The government is preparing a shutdown – how it will be, whether a light version or partial shutdowns will come, it should be announced on Saturday. Starting Friday, new rules will apply in nursing homes.
After a meeting with health experts on hospital capabilities, Kurz did not want to specify which of the measures will be announced tomorrow and when they will come into force: “It is important to remain calm now, we are not in a phase where hours are at stake.”
At the same time, he and Health Minister Rudi Anschober (Greens) highlighted the “drama” of the situation. Experts have confirmed that the capacity of intensive care beds in Austria is rapidly depleting with 6,000 new infections per day. With the current exponential growth, the number of new infections is doubling every week, Kurz said. Yesterday it was around 4,500.
“We will not allow a situation where doctors have to decide who will be treated,” Kurz said. According to Anschober, if the current growth trend continued “into mid-November,” intensive capacities would be “exceeded”.
As Herwig Ostermann from Gesundheit Austria explained, the maximum capacity is around 2000 beds, of which a maximum of 1800 can be occupied at the same time. In an “emergency, the potential for Covid patients is 700 to 800, but then the normal program can no longer be carried out” (Ostermann). As of yesterday, 248 Covid patients were in intensive care units, 1692 hospitalized.
In addition to banning restaurants and events, there are already nightlife restrictions in many countries: in Australia from 8 pm to 5 am, in Spain and Luxembourg from 11 pm to 6 am, in the Czech Republic from 9 pm to 5 am In the regions French women, people cannot leave their homes between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The Covid Action Law establishes curfews; this requires an ordinance from the Ministry of Health and confirmation by the main committee of the National Council. The prerequisite is an “imminent collapse of medical care or similar emergency situations.” Constitutional lawyer Andreas Janko of Kepler University Linz refers to a second condition: it must be proven that “softer means”, such as entry bans, “are not sufficient”.
