Standing at the bar and toasting with friends, rocking the dance floor in the disco without a mask and without having to look at the clock to see if it’s midnight: Since the night of today, going out is like it was before the pandemic – it started in March 2020 – once was.
All access restrictions (most recently 3G) are no longer applicable for gastronomy, hotels, service and leisure companies, including clubs. There are also no visitor limits for all events: for weddings, birthday parties, family and company celebrations, sporting and cultural events, etc.
The general curfew does not apply. Taverns, bars, discotheques etc. are open again as long as we knew them before the pandemic. In particular, it is again allowed to consume while standing.
Mask requirement: where, where not?
The obligation to wear an FFP2 mask only exists on public transport (including train stations), in taxis and in “essential” shops such as supermarkets, post offices and banks, pharmacies and tobacconists. But we wouldn’t be in Austria if there weren’t still ambiguities and differences of opinion about what falls under the term “essential trade”. Clinical thermometers, animal feed or lamps: These goods are considered to be essential, for example. However, if they are not sold in supermarkets but in “mixed businesses”, then customers and employees in these shops must continue to wear an FFP2 mask.
So in hardware stores and “theoretically” also furniture stores, where medical products, safety and emergency products are also offered, criticizes Gerald Kühberger from the Austrian trade association. This leads to the “absurd situation that many commercial businesses that had to remain closed during the hard lockdown are now suddenly classified as ‘vital’,” argues the advocacy group. “With this unrealistic regulation by the Ministry of Health, how are our customers supposed to understand where they will have to wear an FFP2 mask in the future and where not?” Kühberger asks himself.
According to the regulation, masks are also compulsory in shopping malls where “essential” shops are located.
However, 3G still applies in hospitals, old people’s homes and nursing homes. Both visitors and employees must provide proof. Otherwise, the 3G rule in the workplace will no longer apply.
Source: Nachrichten
