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Anyone celebrating Christmas together with friends and relatives this evening should, if possible, observe a few safety measures, says environmental physician Hans Peter Hutter. He recommends, for example, not to sing under the Christmas tree.
“Coronaviruses can waft in the indoor air for a long time and from this follows: Please ventilate. Every half hour circa one to two minutes is enough to also not cool down the whole apartment,” recommends the specialist in hygiene and environmental medicine in the “Vienna Today” interview. How long the Omikron variant of the virus remains airborne is not yet known, but other variants of SARS-CoV-2, such as the Delta variant, are also present in Austria.
Airborne infections more likely
A smear infection, for example at the table or on gifts, is of course possible. But more relevant in any case, he said, is what happens through the air. “When we laugh, when we talk loudly or sing. That is definitely the most important route of infection. And there we should just really pay attention to the fact that we consider, for example, perhaps not to sing under the Christmas tree,” recommends Hutter.
Those who did not take a PCR test on Thursday should still take a rapid antigen test, the physician says. “Whether the Omicron variant is actually detected is still unclear. But one thing is clear: We still have a lot of delta viruses here in Austria, after all, and from there it definitely makes sense to do a test.”
Earlier curfew
Those who do not celebrate in a private room, but go to a pub, must plan with a curfew at 23.00. For New Year’s Eve celebrations, a shorter curfew will then apply, and from December 27, all pubs will have to close as early as 10:00 pm. For the population this is not comprehensible, means Hutter. One sits nevertheless for longer time in a area together and moves even possibly between tables back and forth. The important thing now, he says, is “to stop infection happening, and we should all be involved in that.”
- source: orf.at/picture:pixabay.com
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