The opening steps may have come a little too early, but he will definitely stick to it. The opposition criticized the “zigzag course”.
Video: Number of positive CoV tests remains high
There is currently no overload of the health system, according to the Minister of Health. Therefore, restrictive measures are currently not necessary. The co-chair of the state-wide Covid crisis coordination (Gecko), Major General Rudolf Striedinger, argued similarly. The situation in the intensive care units is “extremely stable,” he told the news magazine “profil”. The number of patients is “at a level comparable to years before Corona”. Even in the normal wards, one is “clearly” removed from a critical situation, according to Striedinger: “The overloading of the health system is not foreseeable in any federal state.” The Corona Commission took a more differentiated view and advocated the implementation of suitable preventive measures.
Not everything went perfectly
Rauch admitted that not everything had gone perfectly in the past: “My goal is to do better.” He will try to “become clearer, more structured and more comprehensible”. Restrictive measures will only be taken if they are “inevitable and necessary”. The measures must find acceptance. “If the basic understanding is missing, the minister can decree whatever he wants, the people will no longer follow.”
With the free tests, he could imagine that a certain number per person could continue to be free after the general phase-out at the end of March. However, he did not want to give details yet. He considers a division into different groups, such as for health workers, to be “not sensible”.
The health minister does not want to rule out the possibility that compulsory vaccination could be “sharpened” in the fall. The law is flexible and increasing the vaccination rate is the most efficient measure against the pandemic. In general, he will start the preparatory work “immediately”, said Rauch: “I can’t wait until June, then it will be too late.”
“Won’t sit back and relax”
In order to increase the vaccination rate, he wants “access from below”. This will require “local people” who can convince others, such as general practitioners. A vaccination campaign that produces beautiful images will not be enough. In any case, he would not “put his hands on his lap”. When it comes to the vaccination rate, he wants to get as close as possible to the 80 percent recommended by the commission.
And Striedinger also explained that in preparation for the fall, enforcing compulsory vaccination from the summer is “conceivable as a coercive measure”. If it is needed, it should then also apply to the fourth stitch. However, the major general expects a “significant flattening of the omicron wave” from April, because the more infectious BA.2 variant “will also be phased out in the next few weeks”. “The virus is running out of food.”
criticism from the opposition
The opposition responded to the health minister’s announcements with criticism: “Turquoise green has simply given up on corona pandemic management,” says SPÖ health spokesman Philip Kucher, who described it as irresponsible, “in the middle of a corona wave with ever new negative to give up almost all protective measures because of the record number of new infections”.
According to NEOS pandemic spokesman Gerald Loacker, the government is “continuously gambling away people’s trust and their own credibility”. Rauch continues the chaos of his predecessors. “Even after two years, there is still no real pandemic management, there is once again no plan for the fall and there is no common goal,” says Loacker.
The Freedom Party sees the federal government’s “corona chaos” continuing: “One minister goes, a new one comes and the chaos remains,” said health spokesman Gerhard Kaniak. The federal government is showing from week to week and month to month that it has no plan and is making completely contradictory announcements almost every day.
Source: Nachrichten
