Researcher is sure: “Fourth wave will come”

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Corona numbers are declining sharply in Austria. Still, experts and politicians warn to be cautious because of delta variant.

For weeks now, new Corona infections have been falling. From Sunday to Monday, there were below 100 new infections in Austria for the first time since last summer.

But according to complexity researcher Peter Klimek, a fourth wave is guaranteed to come, the question is only how strong it will be and how we prepare for it this time.

“That we will have to deal with a fourth wave was always clear. The question is whether this wave will develop such a dynamic that we will again be in trouble with the intensive care units and we will again get drastic measures,” Klimek said on Monday in the Ö1-Mittagsjournal.

It is not clear at the moment how strongly one has to counteract this, for which the data in Austria are still lacking, Klimek explained. He compared the current phase with that in January, when the British variant spread.

According to Klimek, the extent to which the delta cases in Austria will increase also depends to a large extent on travel activities. However, it is not yet possible to deduce from this how much faster the variant will spread.

“Vaccination alone is not enough”
“But we will also have to reckon with a steady growth of this variant in the summer. It won’t happen overnight. But we already have to plan now how we will then respond to this variant. Because we are not far enough along with vaccination now to be able to control this with vaccination alone. That means we will still have to do something like that,” Klimek said.

Also Michael Ludwig and SPÖ boss Rendi Wagner warned on Monday to be careful because of the delta variant. The spread of the new and more contagious variant is difficult to assess, they therefore also demand that the mask obligation does not fall.