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After the rules were relaxed over Christmas, the third lockdown began in Austria. Chancellor Kurz told ORF that he expected a third wave of infections in Europe in early 2021.
It is the third lockdown for Austria that started today. Except for grocery stores, pharmacies and drugstores, the stores will be closed for the next three weeks. Banks and bike shops can stay awake too, hairdressers can’t. Houses and apartments can only be left for the whole day for good reason, but this also includes sports or walks. The rules apply until January 17.
Bottom line: the third wave is coming
Allowed contacts with other households are severely restricted. When shops and cultural institutions reopen on January 18, visitors must first show a negative corona test in order to visit.
Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz expects a third crown wave and a massive increase in the number of infections in Europe over the next year. “The first quarter of 2021 will undoubtedly be an extreme challenge for Europe, the third wave will affect us and the number of infections will again increase enormously in many European countries,” Kurz told ORF.
Bottom line: “Tests are as normal as brushing your teeth”
Thanks to vaccinations and testing, relaxation can be expected afterward, he said. “I hope we can get back to normal to a great extent in the summer.” Kurz went on to say, “I think testing will become absolutely normal in the next few months, like brushing your teeth every day.”
Numerous ski areas are open again in Austria. But due to strict quarantine regulations for those entering the country or, for example, in Bavaria for returnees, these can practically only be used by residents.
In Semmering, about 100 kilometers southwest of Vienna, there was a crowd sledding in the meadows on Christmas Day. Therefore, barriers were placed to limit the number of users, as the mayor said. The cable cars halved the number of guests that can be carried per gondola. Tickets must be purchased online in advance.
Consistent action as in the first confinement
According to ORF, Austrians experience the phases between blockage and relaxation as a form of the Hochschaubahn journey. For Kurz, however, this is not surprising: “That is simply the logic of a pandemic, that pandemics usually come in waves and therefore of course the phase between waves is also used to experience more freedom again. That was necessary economically and socially. ” , because we would all go crazy if there weren’t more normal phases between closings. “
The Chancellor said that now we must return to the consistent action taken from the first confinement. There is the “paradox of the pandemic”, according to which, from the moment a danger has been avoided, it begins to be minimized.
The number of new infections in Austria had recently fallen below the values in Germany based on 100,000 inhabitants.
