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To make the pandemic controllable again, Austrians should stay home. Conditions in hospitals are dramatic.
Since softer measures have not been fruitful, the Austrian government can only help itself with severity. In the picture Sebastian Kurz (right) and his vice chancellor Werner Kogler.
The Austrian government is again using the mallet to combat the crown pandemic. As Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Saturday afternoon along with other members of the government, a “strict” lockdown will be applied from Tuesday. The country should be largely paralyzed. All stores and service providers that do not meet basic needs must close. In addition, there is a full-day curfew: citizens can only leave the house to run important errands, take care of family and professional obligations, as well as for physical and mental relaxation.
Ineffective measures
“Every contact is too much,” Kurz said dramatically. “You don’t know anyone.” Reducing social life is the only way to control the pandemic, even if it makes many people angry.
In terms of new infections per capita, Austria is in an absolute position globally. These are rising uncontrollably, despite the fact that the Vienna government had already drastically restricted public life in late October. At the time, it closed restaurants, bars, sports facilities, and cultural institutions and imposed an extensive curfew between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. However, the number of daily infections has since doubled to just under 10,000.
The reasons for the explosion are only partially clear. It can be seen, for example, that mobility has decreased significantly less than in spring and that most of the people in the household are infected. But contact trackers admit that this rather vague category also hides other sources of infection that simply could not be identified. Case tracking, which has long been carried out very professionally in Austria, is currently collapsing below the total number – only 23 percent can be assigned to a group.
Schools are closed
Making a coherent and science-based policy in these circumstances is proving difficult. For months, the opposition has been criticizing, often rightly, the lack of transparency and poor data on which government decisions are based. However, experts often disagree on key issues. This can also be seen in the controversy over the total closure of schools, which was announced on Saturday.
It was reportedly applied by Chancellor Kurz, against resistance not only from the green junior partner, but also from representatives of his conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) in the federal states. There is controversy among Austrian scientists about the strength with which children and adolescents act as drivers of infections. Studies come up with different results.
Compensation and aid to the economy
imr. Austria had already been in a partial lockdown since November 3. Stores were allowed to go about their business, but museums, theaters, cinemas, and restaurants were closed. Since the government prohibited these companies from doing business, it was relatively generous financially:
You want to compensate them for up to 80 percent of lost sales. Basis of comparison is November 2019 sales. In “hard lockdown,” “body cuddle service providers” such as hairdressers or estheticians receive the same compensation.
According to Finance Minister Gernot Blümel, a differentiated solution is envisaged for retail. Depending on the division, stores receive a turnover compensation of 20, 40 or 60 percent. Suppliers of perishable goods are entitled to a 60 percent replacement. This includes, for example, the flower trade.
It is not yet clear how the fixed cost grant II developed by Blümel will continue. Companies can request payment of gas, rent or electricity bills.
However, the EU Commission has not yet approved this aid measure. She sees this as a help. As a result, companies can apply for grants of up to 800,000 euros as of November 23.
At the press conference, Kurz made it known that schools should not be ruled out as sources of infections because it is often unclear where they took place. Many parents also complain that the schools reacted chaotically to the corona cases. On Thursday, experts from the government’s own Corona traffic light commission spoke out against closing schools for children under 14.
Social and economic considerations are also mixed with resistance, which many companies also support. Going to work becomes much more difficult for parents. Socially disadvantaged people who have little financial or professional room for maneuver are particularly affected. For this reason, kindergartens and schools must remain open to those who need them. However, in the spring, many parents encountered passive resistance and moral pressure from schools when they asked for this statement.
Hospitals on the edge
Hospitals fear their tense staffing situation will be exacerbated by school closures. Doctors report on the dramatic conditions at Covid stations, which can barely cope with the attack. As of Friday, more than 3,900 corona patients were in hospitals, 567 of them in intensive care units. In the federal state of Carinthia, for example, more than 80 percent of beds are occupied. According to health experts, triage, that is, the selection of patients who can still be treated, is imminent if infections are not reduced.
It is true that most infections are mild. But the numbers are so high that even the estimated one percent requiring intensive care treatment is a significant burden. For the first time, the pandemic in Austria caused excess mortality in late October: deaths were a quarter higher than the long-term average. A third of the 1,510 corona deaths so far died in the past two weeks.
However, it is not clear whether the new lockdown will be followed with as much discipline as the spring one. A recent Gallup poll shows a mixed picture: More than 80 percent believe the pandemic is out of control, but nearly 40 percent also believe the danger it poses is exaggerated. Less than half want to be vaccinated.
All of this points to considerable skepticism towards government policy, of which the government itself is not entirely innocent. At the end of the summer, Kurz prematurely announced that he saw “light at the end of the tunnel,” and arguments within the coalition contributed to the uncertainty. The impression given by the ÖVP at the beginning of the second wave that it was mainly the big cities that had a problem contributed to a certain indifference in rural regions, which are now also heavily affected.
Wohlfeile Critic
However, criticism of the government is also a bit cheap: Virtually all European states fail due to the conflict of objectives to keep infections low, take into account economic interests and continue to pursue a coherent policy. This is no different in Austria, which is also currently fighting the aftermath of a terrorist attack. How paradoxical the reactions of the Austrian population are, became clear on Saturday, when people queued in front of numerous stores to quickly stock up on discounted items before closing.
Vienna’s shopping streets are full of bargain hunters on Saturday nights.
Probably not only in Vienna the observer gets the impression that, in addition to conspiracy theorists, many fundamentally reasonable people have decided to ignore the pandemic, simply because they are fed up with it. This also means that official information and instructions reach fewer and fewer people. This is a conflict-prone starting point for the lockdown that is now beginning. This is not the only reason the government is trying to limit this to three weeks. Whether it will be successful remains to be seen.
