The countries have been divided on the future design of the quarantine rules. While the proposal by the Upper Austrian head of state Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) to think about its abolition met with little approval in the red-led states of Carinthia and Burgenland, the black-led states are open-minded. Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) announced on Tuesday that the rules for contact persons would be relaxed.
First, Stelzer made the move and in the OÖN conversation put the abolition of the quarantine rules in the room. In the red-led countries, there was a negative reaction to this on Tuesday. Both Carinthia’s governor Peter Kaiser and Burgenland’s governor Hans Peter Doskozil (both SPÖ) spoke out against the APA.
Kaiser fears “mass infection”
Carinthia State chief Kaiser said that the abolition would not correspond to the current situation and referred to the immensely high number of new infections. “If someone is sick, they are infectious and should definitely stay at home.” Certain restrictions are also needed for sick people without symptoms. “Certain restrictions are certainly a must, for example that you are not allowed to attend major events. Otherwise we will provoke a mass infection,” said the Carinthian head of state.
A complete abolition of the quarantine would not be an option for Doskozil either. The Burgenland will now also shorten the quarantine period to five days, in line with general expert opinion.
different in Salzburg: Stelzer’s proposal should be discussed there tomorrow, Wednesday, in the state’s Corona expert committee, said a spokesman for Governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP) to the APA.
And also Vorarlberg Governor Markus Wallner (ÖVP) spoke out on Tuesday morning for a significant reduction in the quarantine period. It is obvious “that too many people are being separated,” said Wallner, also with regard to the staff of critical infrastructure, hospitals and schools. Separate out those with symptoms. As long as the course of the disease – as is now the case with the omicron variant – is mild, sick leave must be sought as with other diseases, says Wallner.
At a press conference on the test regime on Tuesday, Rauch promised that the quarantine rules would be relaxed. Contact persons who are not fully protected will no longer have to isolate themselves for ten days, but traffic restrictions will apply to them in the future.
Source: Nachrichten
