Is the country tumbling into a second summer of deceptive carefree? Is there another rude awakening? Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (VP) denies this. He sees a turning point in the fight against pandemics. “The crisis is redimensioned. It is changing from an acute challenge for society as a whole to an individual medical problem,” said the head of government in a video conversation with the OÖN and the other federal state newspapers.
This problem is no longer dealt with on the relationship level between the individual and the interventionist state, but on the level of personal responsibility, between the person concerned and the doctor. In short: “The state has massively intervened in the life of every individual over the past year and a half, and now they have to retreat back to their core tasks.”
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The situation is in no way comparable with the previous year. Progress in vaccination, FFP2 mask, test requirement would result in a completely different risk situation. “Five and a half million have been vaccinated, including 90 percent of those over the age of eighty, which is the most vulnerable. Soon almost everyone over 65 will be immunized.” That does not mean that the crisis is over. “The waves will come like the waves in the sea, but their threat will no longer grasp the collective of society as it did last year and spread fear.” The unprotected would be primarily affected. The mutated virus will circulate unhindered among them; this will have to be communicated openly to all those who refuse vaccination. In short: “We will have to tell them that sooner or later you will get infected and you will be able to get sick. Please make yourself aware of that.”
The schnitzel comparison
The pandemic, which is no longer a risk for the hospitals’ capacity to absorb, is left to the individual risk and common sense management, so Kurz: “We are a liberal democracy. There is the right to act legally unreasonable. You can eat ten schnitzel a day or climb the rock face at 140 kilos without the state standing down and securing the rope. ” For particularly sensitive places such as schools or health facilities, the principle of personal responsibility will continue to be linked to special safety standards.
The Chancellor rejected the question of whether the government had quietly and secretly distanced itself from the goal of herd immunity: “I never formulated this goal like that.” He considers it unrealistic and deceptive on a voluntary basis. “Herd immunity is not a guarantee that the virus will no longer occur.” Nevertheless, the government continues to passionately appeal for as many as possible to be vaccinated.
