Opaque award criteria, spontaneous changes of direction and many empty promises: a lot went wrong on the part of the Salzburg state government in the Covid year. Often the other federal states first had to do it so that Salzburg also got on the right course. The “Krone” reviews the political bankruptcies and mishaps of the Covid pandemic.
We remember: The first Covid case was registered in Salzburg on February 29, 2020, and the first lockdown was imposed on March 16. At that time, companies were commissioned by the state to handle all aspects of testing and evaluation. There were no tenders.
However, the tracking of contact persons was simply outsourced to the district authorities and the municipalities. The consequence: community employees whose actual work was suspended and who sometimes struggled with Excel lists and Word files. The consequence of this is still noticeable: The compensation payments are processed by the district authorities, but have still not reached all of the applicants.
Change of direction ends in a quick shot action
The mass test in December, which was scheduled at short notice, flopped due to the moderate participation of the population – however, they refused to offer permanently open test stations.
In other federal states – for example Vienna – such stations were already commonplace at that time. After a change of heart, the decision was made spontaneously before the Christmas holidays to install test stations, but their capacities were nowhere near enough. When it came to vaccination, the first few promises were made. Appointments had to be canceled and those willing to be vaccinated had to be put off, even though, according to public statements, they should have had a vaccination long ago.
Also not to be forgotten: a jumble of papers, missing SMS confirmations, a hacker attack. On Wednesday, the app for living room tests from Apple was released with a delay. At Google, the application is still on hold. And: There are already first attempts at fraud with false photos. Anyone who tricks will be banned in the future. Legal action is also threatened.