On the one hand, this will allow the living room tests again and, on the other hand, the lockdown for the unvaccinated will continue. In contrast to the compulsory vaccination and the incentive and reward package to increase the vaccination rate, where the SPÖ supports the government, the Social Democrats now rejected the extension of the regulation.
In view of the sharp increase in the number of infections with the Omicron variant and the overload of the PCR tests, self-administered antigen tests in 3G areas (such as at the workplace) are now recognized again. The only requirement that is already known: You must be recorded by an official data processing system. Like normal antigen tests, they will be valid for 24 hours. In addition, the exit restrictions for the unvaccinated – now at least until January 30 – remain in place, as do the curfew in the catering trade.
Lockdown for the unvaccinated “ineffective” and “obsolete”
The SPÖ has always supported the regulations in this regard, but this time the largest opposition party did not vote. Vice club boss Jörg Leichtfried justified this by saying that the lockdown for the unvaccinated was “apparently ineffective and also obsolete due to the coming vaccination requirement”. The SPÖ also rejects the reintroduction of the validity of the living room tests. Leichtfried sees this as “nothing other than the result of the government’s failure to manage the pandemic”. In a statement sent to APA, Leichtfried pointed out that the PCR test system had temporarily collapsed in the rest of Austria, with the exception of Vienna. “After two years of the pandemic, the government has not managed to roll out a reliably functioning PCR test system nationwide for all residents.” In addition, the living room tests were viewed very critically by experts because of their poorer sensitivity, especially for 3G at work.
The extension was only decided with the votes of the two governing parties ÖVP and Greens. As with the last extensions, the NEOS voted against this time too and the FPÖ generally rejects the government’s corona measures. The FPÖ MP Petra Steger sees the lockdown for the unvaccinated as “the most serious encroachment on fundamental rights for healthy people” and an “educational measure”. For Gerald Loacker from NEOS, the hospital numbers do not reflect the severity of the measures.
Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens), on the other hand, defended the measures. He is aware that the lockdown for the unvaccinated is a drastic measure and has lasted for a long time. He therefore does not extend the lockdown lightly. According to experts, however, the extension is necessary. And according to parliamentary correspondence, Mückstein justified the approval of the living room tests with the fact that there were delays in the evaluation due to the many PCR tests in some federal states. At the same time, the PCR test infrastructure will be further expanded, assured Mückstein.
The Chamber of Pharmacists has meanwhile made it clear that the federal government’s distribution campaign for free living room tests via pharmacies will not be continued. There are currently no free living room tests in pharmacies either. The decision as to whether free living room tests will be reintroduced in the individual federal states, what validity they will have and whether this distribution will take place via the pharmacies is still pending, the Chamber of Pharmacists announced. Regardless of what the federal states decide on in terms of living room tests, the tried-and-tested antigen and PCR tests in more than 1,000 pharmacies throughout Austria are still possible free of charge and close to home, emphasized the interest group.
Source: Nachrichten
