“There will be no avoiding the fact that only vaccinated people come in,” he called for strict restrictions on, for example, leisure facilities. In Burgenland, however, one sees no reason for tightening, on Sunday they referred to the high vaccination rate. Criticism came from Vienna’s FP boss Dominik Nepp.
“We still have four to six weeks to increase the vaccination rate,” Hacker told the “Kronen Zeitung”. After this period, it will be decided “with what consequences the fourth wave will come”. “The measures that follow are completely clear. The vaccinated will find a different life situation than the non-vaccinated,” he emphasized. “If the number of infections increases, and they will increase at the beginning of school, then, for example, unvaccinated teachers will teach with masks.”
The model calculations of the city of Vienna assume a sharp increase in the number of infections in the second half of September, according to Hackers Bro. The fourth wave will really come when the schools open and the weather gets worse again, so the warning.
Regarding the envisaged entry bans for unvaccinated people, the city council said: “Better only vaccinated people have access than closures. Nobody wants to see a lockdown anymore. It makes sense if leisure and sports facilities already introduce this.” People who cannot be vaccinated would of course be exempt from such stricter rules, stressed Hackers Bro (for example children under the age of twelve for whom vaccination has not yet been approved).
A special route for Vienna is conceivable
If the federal government does not implement this, a special way is conceivable again in Vienna: “The federal government must announce the new rules from September next week,” said Hacker, referring to the ordinance of Health Minister Wolfgang Mckstein (Grne), which expires on August 31.
In Burgenland, one does not think of moving here with them. There are currently no tightening plans for unvaccinated people, it said on Sunday from the governor’s office. The country has a high rate of vaccination coverage and a high willingness to vaccinate, so there is currently no need for such measures. Burgenland continues to rely on voluntariness, according to a spokeswoman for Governor Hans-Peter Doskozil (SP).
From Lower Austria it was said that they were advocating a solution at the federal level. Therefore, no further measures are being planned at the state level, but rather the discussion with the Minister of Health and the other state health authorities is being sought, said state health authority Ulrike Knigsberger-Ludwig (SP) via a spokesperson on Sunday. Introducing new demands every day leads to uncertainty among the population, according to Knigsberger-Ludwig.
In Vienna, according to data from Hackers Bro, 85 percent of the current infection rate can be traced back to those people who have not been vaccinated at all or have only been vaccinated once (in detail: 74 percent unvaccinated, 11 percent vaccinated once, 15 percent vaccinated twice). There are hardly any corona patients who are immunized in the hospitals. Hackers Bro also emphasized once again that the vaccines previously approved in the EU protect very well against a serious disease course and thus a hospital stay: With the vaccines from BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna, this protection rate is 96 percent, with AstraZeneca 92 percent .
“Those are the hard facts! The most effective measure is vaccination,” said Hacker. The vaccination rates in the upper age groups are “halfway satisfactory,” said his office. Nonetheless, the number of unvaccinated people in these age groups is sufficient to fill the hospitals again and to bring them to their limits – and that happens when many younger (unvaccinated) people become infected. Because there are “unbelievably many points of contact” in older (unvaccinated) vintages.
Sharp criticism of hackers came from FP Vienna boss Nepp on Sunday: the city council should “rather do its homework on health policy instead of locking out non-vaccinated people from social life. It is a scandal that hackers regularly whine up a fourth wave and more and more restrictions for the Viennese are demanding, but the city is not taking any precautions to prevent a new lockdown. “
As in the previous year, the SP-led city government was doing “nothing”, according to Nepps allegation. “This inaction on the part of SP Mayor Ludwig then led to an endless lockdown from which the city will not recover for many years. The FP has been calling for the expansion of hospital capacities or the installation of air filter systems in all school classes for over a year. Both the SP as well as the pink Education Councilor Wiederkehr have remained completely inactive. “
