Kurz paid a visit to the Styrian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Spielberg on Sunday. “I’m happy to finally see so many people again,” said the head of government to media representatives. “Especially after one and a half years of pandemic, it is nice now that there are finally big events again, that gastronomy, tourism, sport and culture can finally flourish again,” said Kurz, who attended a Formula 1 race for the first time. “The maximum I have ever experienced was once a go-kart track.” At his home, however, the racing series used to be “properly watched”, so he knows “what’s going on at the very front”, and keep your fingers crossed for Ring owner Mateschitz’s Red Bull team. He explicitly thanked him for his investments in the region.
“I think there is still nothing like a live event. Sports events, cultural events only on the Internet without spectators are not permanent,” said Kurz. Mateschitz and his team did a great job after 2020 to get two Formula 1 races off the ground within two weeks, explained the Styrian Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer (ÖVP). After the fall of the viewer restrictions at the beginning of July, a six-digit number of visitors could be reached on the extensive site next week. “Styria shows itself here from a particularly beautiful side,” said Schützenhöfer. “Today is a step towards normality.”
The security concept that you rely on “is great. The governor and I have had contact with it again and again. The authorities have dealt with it very carefully,” explained Kurz. “There is a good possibility of contact tracing, if something really happens, plus the 3-G rule.” Schützenhöfer added that for everyone within the Formula 1 “bubble” – F1 drivers and teams, employees of the organizer, media professionals, etc. – a 3-G certificate is not sufficient. According to the requirements of the Formula 1 organization, this group must present a negative PCR test every five days.
Kurz does not see the comeback of the masses as problematic – rather, it is necessary. “Even at a major event, not one person has contact with 50,000 people. I believe that if the people who take part have been vaccinated, tested or recovered, that is a good basis. Of course, you can always argue about when the deadline is can be a week earlier or later. But we have to get back to normal, that includes major events, “he said and reminded:” It’s also about a lot of jobs. “
The measures taken by the federal government to date in the course of combating corona have included painful restrictions on fundamental freedoms. But they had to be met at the time. “There were no mass tests in the second wave, there were no FFP2 masks for everyone and there was certainly no vaccination,” said Kurz. Now the restrictions no longer have to be upheld. “We have a very, very low infection rate, and that’s a good thing. More importantly, we will soon have five million people in Austria who are vaccinated.” Almost 4.59 million people in Austria had been vaccinated for the first time by Thursday.
Inevitably, the number of infections would rise again by autumn at the latest, said Kurz. “We mustn’t let ourselves be totally disturbed by that. If not everyone gets vaccinated, there will always be infections. But after the elderly and the risk groups are protected, I believe that we will have a good summer and a good autumn have in front of us. ” Because of the delta variant, there is no need to panic. “For me, there is an alarm mood from the point at which there is a variant where the vaccination does not work. The good news: The vaccination also works with the Delta variant.”
