“An incredible development that has been allowed”

For the complexity researcher Peter Klimek, the hard lockdowns in Upper Austria and Salzburg are the bitter end of an “incredible development that has been allowed”. For the member of the national forecasting consortium, there has never been an “such extreme exceptional situation” in the course of the pandemic.

That was a consequence of politicians’ hesitant reaction to high numbers again in the spring: “The skid mark was now so long that it ended in the wall.” Klimek also addressed the statement by ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (VP) from June that the pandemic for vaccinated people was over. Now you are tilting towards hard lockdowns. However, such extremes should be avoided.

“Whether we need a tough lockdown nationwide is a question of strategy,” said the scientist from the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. In contrast to the other federal states, there is a falling rate of positive tests in Vienna and Burgenland. So the test infrastructure is still working there. The dynamics in these two countries are not so dangerous to the system.

“Strategy for the winter”

Klimek does not want to speak of the “all-clear” in Vienna and Burgenland either, because the intensive care bed capacities there may soon also be needed by other federal states.

Aside from the “head games” about hard lockdowns here and there, the researcher demands a “strategy for the winter” from politicians. This is the only way to clarify “how we want to continue after the measures”. Ultimately, a lot will revolve around the question of any kind of mandatory vaccination. “You have to make decisions in that direction. Because that is the much more important question from a long-term perspective” if you don’t want to end up exactly where Austria is now.

Reluctance in schools

Klimek remains cautious when it comes to school closings in the wake of lockdowns. For him, “of all settings, schools are the one that we have to worry about the least”.

There, the situation is at least somewhat controlled by the laboriously built test system. In addition, you gain valuable conclusions about the dynamics of the infection situation, said Klimek.