The chancellorship of Alexander Schallenberg (VP) ended not long after the supposedly historic meeting with the provincial governors at the Tyrolean Achensee. The obligation to vaccinate, which was jointly sealed there by state leaders and government leaders, is now de facto threatened with a similar fate to that of Schallenberg.
After criticism of the implementation (the OÖN reported) that only came into force on Saturday, doubts about the general usefulness of the law and especially the penalties planned from mid-March are increasing. As reported, Carinthia’s governor Peter Kaiser (SP) called for a “constant review of proportionality” on Tuesday. Yesterday, his Salzburg colleague Wilfried Haslauer (VP) followed up and even called for the obligation to vaccinate to be suspended: He sees this as “skeptical” because there is no foreseeable overload of medical care. The accompanying commission planned in the law should evaluate the proportionality even before the law is “sharpened” with the penalties planned from March 16th. The decision at Lake Achensee was made under the impression of the delta wave, he defended the pivot.
Even Upper Austria’s governor Thomas Stelzer (VP) is no longer one hundred percent behind the law: The vaccination requirement is “sensible, but whether level three (including penalties, note) will really be necessary” is “open and should be discussed”. so stilted.
Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) then opened a line of retreat himself: Although he pointed out that the “goal of the Vaccination Act is to be as well prepared as possible for any coming waves. The pandemic has already been prematurely declared over – a mistake that we must not repeat.” At the same time, he announced that the first meeting of the accompanying commission would be fixed “as soon as possible”, which, among other things, should examine “the suitability for protecting health care”. The start of penalties for unvaccinated people in mid-March is not set in stone, according to those close to him.
With maximum value in a plateau phase
8553 new infections reported yesterday was a new high in the pandemic in Upper Austria. The 38,309 corona cases in Austria were the fourth highest value, and the number of cases is usually highest on Wednesday due to the numerous school tests.
Upper Austria is “within Niki Popper’s forecasts,” said the country’s crisis management team yesterday. The simulation expert, who is also a member of the Ministry of Health’s Covid forecast consortium, has been making its own forecasts for Upper Austria for some time.
In yesterday’s preview, the panel of experts sees a “temporary plateau phase” nationwide. A further increase is unlikely, but the range of fluctuation is large due to uncertainties caused by the new omicron variant BA.2: The estimate for next Wednesday is between 27,200 and 45,000 cases within 24 hours. Because BA.2 is easier to transfer, a renewed increase in cases cannot be ruled out. The number of hospitals is increasing moderately.
The planned opening steps are already included.
Source: Nachrichten
