30 people with high-risk exposure (K1) are also in quarantine, 300 people were classified as K2 people with low-risk exposure, the Vienna health authorities of the APA confirmed an ORF report on Thursday.
The K1 contacts now have to be in quarantine for 14 days, including those who have been vaccinated. The background to this is the tightening of the contact follow-up requirements by the Ministry of Health for those who have just received a vaccine dose (only with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, one stitch is enough for full immunization). In addition to those who have recovered, the authorities can basically also downgrade those who have been vaccinated from the 22nd day after the first stab from K1 to Category K2. If the rapidly spreading delta variant is suspected, however, this rule no longer applies to partially immunized persons, which also means quarantine for this group instead of the voluntary contact reduction provided for K1 persons. And Hafenecker, whose infection was the first to become known in the parliamentary cluster, was infected with the same Delta variant of the corinavirus, as he made public on Twitter on Thursday.
Stgmller gave 230 contacts
The large number of K2 contact persons is mainly due to the fact that the Green MP Stgmller indicated in contact tracing all 230 participants in the regional assembly of the Upper Austrian Greens last Friday, as stated in the “Morgenjournal”.
Incidentally, the question of which person in the parliamentary cluster was the “case zero” in which the chain of infection began has not yet been clarified. The Viennese health authorities emphasize that this question is attempted to be answered in the course of contact tracing. That won’t be easy, however.
At yesterday’s National Council meeting, several representatives of VP Hafenecker criticized the fact that he had only reported his infection to parliament after three days. In the FP, the implicit accusation that Hafenecker brought the corona virus into the House is vehemently rejected. Hafenecker’s Ct value was 34 Thursday morning, a transmission is extremely unlikely. In the “Kurier”, virologist Norbert Nowotny confirms that corona infected people with a Ct value of over 30 are basically no longer infectious. But: At the beginning of an infection, the viral load can increase rapidly. Hafenecker, who, according to the report, undergoes regular tests and was still negative in an antigen test on Wednesday, could therefore have been at the beginning of an infection on Thursday morning and very well have been infectious in the evening.
