The new rules over Christmas and New Year make one thing clear: We are in for a long road through a tough Corona winter. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP): “In the first months of the year, vaccination will not yet have an effect.” Details on mandatory outdoor testing and masks are to come next week.
Less than two weeks after the Federal government’s announcement that Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve may be celebrated by tens and regardless of residence, the government rowed back again in view of the still high infection figures.
Except for December 24 and 25, only two households are allowed in one place, as usual – an example: a sibling living separately who visits parents for Christmas must return to their own four walls on the evening of December 25. There are no family exceptions.
Mask obligation in the open
In general, it is rather tightenings instead of reliefs, which are pending these days: At the beginning of the coming week, the decree of the Minister of Health will be ready, which will allow a partial mask obligation outdoors – for example in shopping streets. Details on mandatory testing for certain professions are also expected soon; so far, the only thing that is fixed is that masseurs & co. will have to go to test streets for this and will not be allowed to work without a negative result.
Nursing homes: employees must take test twice a week
Employees in nursing homes, meanwhile, will have to undergo mandatory testing twice a week. Details on the recently announced mandatory testing in severely affected regions (the alternative: quarantine) will also follow next week. Once again, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called on the weekend to follow Corona rules and participate in mass testing – in drastic words: “If someone infects their parents or grandparents, it can mean death for them with a reasonably high probability.”
Kurz: “Return to normality only in summer 2021”
Kurz continues to expect a “return to normality” only in the summer of 2021 – despite the approaching Corona vaccination: “In the first months of the new year, the vaccination will not yet have any effect,” says the chancellor in view of the shortage of the vaccine. The government’s goal is for nursing home residents, medical personnel, the previously ill and the elderly to be vaccinated in the first quarter. Healthy middle-aged people can expect to be vaccinated in the second quarter – at the earliest.
hp, Source: krone.at. picture: pixabay.com
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