Government announces new rules: First measures already from Wednesday

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There will be no more lockdown for vaccinated citizens. This has already been announced by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Monday evening in the ORF summer talk. Instead, there will be tough measures only for the unvaccinated – to protect them and the health system from being overburdened. For example, there will be a FFP2 mask obligation for unvaccinated in the trade.

After a meeting with state governors, the federal government today, Wednesday, unveiled the whole “toolbox” – all the measures that are planned.

Essentially, a phased plan will apply, based on the utilization of intensive care units (ICUs). Already from Wednesday, September 15, the mask obligation will be extended again, as confirmed to KURIER from government circles.

From September 15:

Antigen tests only 24 hours valid
– FFP2 mask obligatory where currently a mouth-nose protection must be worn (places of daily use e.g. supermarket, public transport)
Recommendation FFP2 masks for all also in the trade, for unvaccinated this becomes obligatory (random checks by police)
– 3G at events with 25 persons or more (until now, the 3G rule only applied to events with 100 persons or more)
– From 15 percent ICU bed occupancy (300 beds)

In night catering (and similar settings), at events without assigned seating with more than 500 people: Admission only for vaccinated and convalescent (2G). One is considered recovered six months after infection, after which gensene should also be vaccinated.
Antigen tests with self-collection (living room tests) no longer valid as proof of 3G.
Above 20 percent ICU bed occupancy (400 beds).

Only vaccinated, recovered or PCR-tested patients are now considered 3G
The measures will take effect seven days after each limit is exceeded.

According to Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), the model is Denmark. There, there are no more Corona restrictions because 86 percent of the population has already been vaccinated. This shows that vaccination works and the more people are vaccinated, the easier it is to push back the virus, he said. The answer to rising infection rates, therefore, must be vaccination, not lockdown, Kurz said.

Anyone who doesn’t get vaccinated will sooner or later become infected with the coronavirus, he said. The virus will not go away, the chancellor said. “We cannot and will not limit ourselves forever, we must rely on vaccination,” he said. In addition to increasing vaccination coverage, the third prick is also crucial, he said. It is not a “discretionary decision,” he said; it is not a matter of whether or not one is happy to be vaccinated a third time, but the third dose is necessary for full protection.

“There is no vaccinated Austria and no unvaccinated Austria, there is one Austria and we take care of each other,” said Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens).

Günter Platter, governor of Tyrol and currently chairman of the Conference of Governors of the Provinces, said that everything could only happen in agreement with the provinces and municipalities. A solidarity is essential here. The provinces and municipalities would unanimously support the new measures. They expressly welcome the paradigm shift toward ICU occupancy and away from incidences. “There must be no more lockdown,” Platter said. There must be strict controls on the measures, he added. Both are necessary, he said, in order to be able to cope well with the winter season in tourism. In the population, he now perceives a much better mood than a few months ago, Platter explained. This confidence is also noticeable in the labor market. Now, he said, it is a matter of maintaining the momentum and the mood.

“Vaccination is not only effective, but very safe,” explained MedUni Vice Rector Oswald Wagner. “Consider where the world and Austria would be today if a large part of the population had not been vaccinated. We would be back in a hard lockdown.” The only reason the mask requirement needs to be tightened again, he said, is because many are unsure whether vaccination is safe. Fifty to 20 percent of the population will naturally immunize themselves against the virus next year because they come into contact with it. A not-too-small proportion will fall ill and also have to go into intensive care, he said. Vaccination is far safer, he said.

Majority of intensive care patients unvaccinated
This year, the number of new infections already increased noticeably in July and August. Last year, the seven-day incidence of 130 reported by AGES – corresponding to a good 1,600 new infections per day – was not reached until October 21. At that time, the number of intensive care patients was 145; the current figure is 171, despite the fact that vaccination is basically available, because according to reports from the provinces, the majority of intensive care patients have been revaccinated.

The increase in corona-related deaths in the fourth wave is lower than in the previous year. While in the first three weeks of October 2021, an average of eight people died daily after corona infection, in the last three weeks there were about three per day.