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The CoV delta variant is increasingly spreading in Austria. At the same time, the number of vaccinated people is growing. Politicians and scientists are searching between these two poles for the best possible strategy for the summer. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) again called for vaccination and emphasized people’s personal responsibility. However, certain “framework conditions” of the state will still be needed, experts say.
“The virus will not disappear, it will stay. It will keep us busy for years to come,” Kurz, who is currently on a trip to the United States, told Austrian journalists in New York Sunday evening. “For everyone who is vaccinated, the pandemic is over. For everyone who is not vaccinated, the virus is a massive problem,” the chancellor warned.
An increase in the number of infections, as recently seen in southern Europe and the Netherlands, “will also happen here,” he said. Compared to previous waves, however, there is now vaccination as a “gamechanger,” said Kurz, who said he received his second AstraZeneca dose a few days ago.
Low-threshold vaccination offer
Together with the federal states, the company is trying to create an offer that is as low-threshold as possible, for example to reach people who want to be vaccinated without registering. Cooperation with associations such as the volunteer fire department is also planned.
Kurz is apparently not thinking about financial incentives for vaccinations. “So far, we have relied on vaccinating those who want it,” the chancellor answered a corresponding question from APA. If the infection figures rise again, he said, he assumes that the offer of vaccination will also be accepted by those people who previously had the hope that the virus would “disappear.”
“Crisis redimensioned”
Over the weekend, Kurz had stressed people’s personal responsibility in dealing with the pandemic. “The crisis is redimensioning. It is changing from an acute challenge for society as a whole to an individual medical problem,” the chancellor said in an interview with the federal state newspapers.
“The state has intervened massively in the lives of every individual for the last year and a half, and it must now return to its core tasks,” Kurz continued. In special areas such as schools and health care facilities, the principle of individual responsibility will continue to be linked to special safety standards, the chancellor told the “Kleine Zeitung,” among others.
Hutter in favor of “certain framework conditions”
Environmental physician Hans-Peter Hutter of MedUni Vienna supported the implemented relaxations in the Ö1 midday journal, but spoke out in favor of “certain framework conditions” on the part of the government. “We know from studies that it is not just the meaningfulness of the measures that plays a role, but actually whether there is also a corresponding prescription,” Hutter said. Therefore, there is a need for “simple, accompanying measures that are also prescribed.”
As examples, Hutter cited the “3-G” rule, the retention of mandatory masks and indoor capacity limits. As far as schools are concerned, testing will probably form the cornerstone of the CoV strategy, Hutter expressed his conviction. The physician sees room for improvement in the “ventilation regime.” In addition, he said, a way of dealing with capacity limits will have to be considered.
During his visit to New York, Kurz emphasized that there was a “clear commitment to face-to-face teaching” from the Federal government this coming school opening. ÖVP Education Minister Heinz Faßmann had already “worked out a good concept in this regard, which will be presented in detail in August”. The chancellor hinted that this concept could be based on testing, the APA reported.
— source: orf.at/picture:pixabay.com
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