“We are heading straight for a real supply crisis,” warned the doctor. More than 3,000 infected people have to be treated in the hospital.
“Our hospitals are overcrowded, our staff are overworked and most of them are infected themselves, it can all end very ugly,” Gingold confirmed in a broadcast. Austria is already the front runner in Europe when it comes to hospital numbers. The statistics portal “Our World in Data” shows 334 hospitalized Covid 19 patients per million inhabitants for Austria as of March 16, which is currently sixth in Europe. “Every new infection record brings us closer to the unwanted podium,” Gingold warned.
Video: Hans-Peter Hutter on the infection process
He sharply criticized the government that if politics continued like this, “Austria would suffer massive health damage”. Playing for time and hoping for the warmer season and thus lower numbers is “absolutely wrong” for the doctor. He recalled that the omicron variant was sequenced early in the South African summer and had spread rapidly despite rising temperatures.
“It could get even worse in autumn 2022,” feared Gingold, who once again sees the necessary preparations by the federal government for autumn and the next wave as “nonexistent”. “After two summers in which one slept through the following autumn, things aren’t looking any better this year,” stated the Vice President.
“The reduction in tests, the lack of investment in health staff in the hospitals and considerations that are already circulating that quarantine for health workers should be abolished will drive the health system and Austria to the wall,” Gingold warned urgently.
Source: Nachrichten
