5714 new corona infections were counted on Sunday. The quarantine rules still applied to them, which have been abolished from today by the ordinance of Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens). Traffic restrictions is the new reality in which some ambiguity remains.
traffic restrictions: Previously, infected people had to be quarantined for at least five days, after which they could be tested with a CT value of over 30. The latter now also applies to the traffic restrictions, which mean that infected people must wear FFP2 masks. This obligation does not apply at home (as long as only members of the household are present) and in private cars as well as outdoors, where a distance of two meters from other people must be maintained.
You can visit events, inns or swimming pools with a mask, but you cannot take it off, which is why consumption in a restaurant is not permitted. The traffic restrictions apply for a maximum of ten days.
entry bans: There are general restrictions in some areas for people who are corona positive: They are not allowed to enter hospitals, nursing homes, institutions for the disabled and sanatoriums, as well as childcare facilities, elementary schools and after-school care centers. Excluded from this are employees of these places of work (with mask).
Corona with symptoms: Anyone who feels sick from today and has tested positive for Covid (must be backed up by a PCR test) is still entitled to sick leave. A medical certificate is required to report to the employer. Only for (suspected) corona infected people there is again the doctor’s sick note by phone.
Corona without symptoms: Anyone who does not feel sick despite a positive test is required to go about their work with a mask. This does not apply to professions that de facto cannot be practiced with a mask (e.g. speech therapists, musicians). If only currently infected people come together at a place of work, all restrictions will no longer apply. This does not apply to “vulnerable places” such as hospitals. There is a permanent mask requirement for everyone.
Vulnerable Groups: In order to protect people who, despite being vaccinated, fear a severe course of an infection or who cannot be vaccinated at all for medical reasons, the risk group ordinance is being reactivated. It initially grants those affected the right to protective measures at work, home office or a temporary leave of absence until the end of October.
New mode: The four-stage variant management plan (VMP) will apply from autumn. Ideally (Covid as a “normal respiratory disease”), this does not provide for any restrictions. In the worst-case scenario, mandatory masks and even night-time curfews could return.
Criticism and alternative regulations
- Alex Brodman, head of the interest group of leading care organizations (including Caritas, Diakonie, Red Cross), criticized at the weekend that Corona-positive employees would now have to be deployed. After all, it is about “groups of people for whom Corona can lead to serious consequences, in the worst case to death”.
- With JKU Rector Meinhard Lukas a prominent lawyer criticizes the quarantine. Lukas refers to the ban on hazards enshrined in the criminal law as “not thought through” that a non-infected person cannot easily stay away from work if a person infected with Covid 19 is sitting in his office. At Kepler University, he will recommend that everyone who is infected stay at home.
- In Vienna’s hospitals, care facilities, kindergartens and city schools, no employees who have tested positive are deployed. The governor of Burgenland has an analogous regulation Hans Peter Doskozil (SP) announced for all state institutions with customer contact.
Source: Nachrichten
