“Opening Day” in Austria despite high infection numbers

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As of today, almost all Corona measures are out of force.

Today, everyday life in Austria changes appropriately – for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago, it ended with today everywhere – except Vienna – almost all Corona measures.

Fear of infection with coronavirus has decreased.

This should also be entirely in the sense of many people. Because despite high infection numbers – on Friday, 32,419 new infections were recorded – the fear of the population of disease with the virus has decreased significantly. At the same time, the willingness to accept restrictions to combat the pandemic has also declined. This is the result of the latest “Corona Sentiment Barometer” of the Gallup Institute.

Only 67 percent are still willing to accept restrictions.

In the most recent survey wave in February, 45 percent said they thought the threat posed by the virus was exaggerated. Conversely, 46 percent expressed fear of infection. For the first time in almost two years, the two groups were more or less balanced. Until then, fear of disease had always clearly predominated. The willingness to temporarily give up civil liberties to contain the pandemic is now at an all-time low. Only 67 percent are willing to accept restrictions for this purpose.

Not everyone is happy with the regulation.

The basis for the end of almost all Corona measures is the “Covid-19 Basic Measures Regulation.” Criticism of the Health Ministry’s regulation comes from the Chamber of Labor and the Federation of Trade Unions. The employee representatives see the ordinance as creating a “very unclear legal situation” when companies can prescribe Corona protection measures in their operations. They criticize the lack of “any legal guidelines” on dealing with specific protection requirements in companies.

The trade association is also dissatisfied with the regulation. Contrary to the announcement of the federal government in February to maintain the FFP2 mask obligation from March 5 exclusively in the “vital trade, “this is now to apply nevertheless also in mixed enterprises, which offer animal feed, medical products, or safety and emergency products, the trade association is annoyed.

The Chamber of Commerce is mainly satisfied with the regulation. For the Federation of Austrian Industry, it will only become apparent in practice “whether and which questions will arise here in concrete terms during implementation.”