“It’s too early for me now, this discussion, which was also initiated in Vienna,” said the head of department on Sunday evening in the “ZiB2”. The reintroduction of the mask requirement indoors would be conceivable for him. Prior to this, Vienna’s City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker (SPÖ) had brought into play, among other things, access bans for unvaccinated people.
It’s a question of when
“The restriction of public life currently only for those who have been vaccinated is currently not ripe for a nationwide decision,” said the Minister of Health in the evening. “I think it’s a question of when. We have had a worsening epidemiological situation for a few days. We have almost 1,000 positive tests per day now for the fifth day in a row.” One now has to start thinking about how to get into a “safe autumn”. “But currently to differentiate between unvaccinated and vaccinated people on a broader basis, that would lead to a division in society. I believe that in the current situation this is epidemiologically unjustifiable.”
He now wants to give people time to “work with education, work with low-threshold vaccination offers,” said Mückstein. “So we will hopefully be able to increase the vaccination quota by autumn.” After the current regulation for the corona measures expires at the end of August, there will be no distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated people when new rules are then required.
- ZIB 2-Video: Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein
But he could very well envision other measures – such as “the topic of indoor masks”. This is a measure that is “very effective” and is widely accepted by the population. “We have to keep turning small screws,” said the minister. It is also conceivable, for example, to reduce the validity of antigen tests from 48 to 24 hours. Corresponding proposals have already been sent to the coalition partner ÖVP, which are currently being “examined”.
Mückstein did not answer the question of whether a new lockdown is out of the question for him directly. It is now a matter of “turning small letters” that are “reasonable and effective,” he said.
A special route for hackers in Vienna is possible
Before that, Hacker started the discussion with a call for stricter procedures. The city council brought, for example, access bans for unvaccinated people in sports facilities or leisure facilities into play: “There will be” no way around the fact that only more vaccinated people come in, “he said (whereby non-vaccinable people should be specifically excluded). He also emphasized that Vienna could go a separate way again if the federal government did not take appropriate steps for the whole of Austria.
“The vaccinated will find a different life situation than the non-vaccinated,” emphasized the City Councilor for Health. “If the number of infections increases, and they will increase at the beginning of school, then, for example, unvaccinated teachers will teach with masks.” Mückstein said of the upcoming school openings in September that he considered the plans already announced by Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP) to be sufficient, although he also made it clear that the openings will have an impact: “The situation of the general population or the incidence here has an impact school is off and vice versa, school is again an infection driver. “
In Styria, Carinthia and Tyrol, too, they were open to tightening on Sunday – but at least they want a nationwide approach. “That is absolutely the right approach, but it only works if the federal government and the states agree on clear measures together,” said the Styrian health councilor Juliane Bogner-Strauss (ÖVP). The Carinthian State Health Councilor LHStv. Beate Prettner (SPÖ) described stricter measures for non-vaccinated people as “unavoidable”. They were also open to Hacker’s advance in Tyrol, but they also want a nationwide path. No preferences were shown in Lower Austria, but it was clear that they wanted a uniform solution, it was said on Sunday.
The Burgenland expressly denied the need for additional measures with reference to the high vaccination rate there. In Salzburg, too, no further tightening is currently necessary, according to the office of health officer LHStv. Christian Stöckl, it is more important to continue to focus more on vaccination.
