Tuesday, May 11, 2021
In short: Germany should relax
Austria no longer wants to be a risk area
The pandemic has severely affected the tourism industry in Austria, which is why Chancellor Kurz is attracting visitors with openings for holidaymakers in his own country. One hurdle: The Alpine republic is still on the German list of corona risk areas. On a visit to Munich, given a seven-day incidence below a hundred, he requests that that be changed.
With a view to the upcoming Whitsun holidays, Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz believes that the Alpine republic should be removed from the German list of corona risk areas. “What I hope is that the quarantine regulations will be lifted soon,” said Kurz on the sidelines of the Ludwig Erhard summit in Munich. It is very important, Kurz continued, that quarantine rules are needed if the infections on one side of the border are ten or 20 times as high as on the other side. “But if the contagion rates are roughly the same or are even lower in a neighboring country than in your own country, then this is difficult to argue.” Kurz emphasized that he trusted that the federal government would make “fact-based” decisions.
With a seven-day incidence of 95.1, the number of infections in Austria is now lower than in Germany (115.4, as of May 11, 2021). Austria’s economy is massively dependent on income from tourism. The country is suffering from a significant economic slump due to the pandemic. According to Kurz, the fact that in Austria – unlike in Germany – people can go to restaurants or events untested after their first vaccination does not mean an increased safety risk. “The best reflection of the risk of contagion is the seven-day incidence, while looking at how much a country is testing,” he said. Measured by the number of inhabitants, no country is testing anymore, so the number of unreported cases is very low. In addition, there are no clear European standards for assessing when a person is considered sufficiently vaccinated. “I don’t think that’s a big problem,” said Kurz. The number of people vaccinated will increase step by step in the next few weeks.
Austria itself will generally abolish its entry rules for all other countries except for high-risk areas on May 19. “This means that every German who has been tested, vaccinated or recovered can go on vacation in Austria, go to our restaurants, cultural events, sporting events or whatever they want – just like Austrians,” said Kurz . This should be controlled by the “Green Passport”, which contains the evidence for a vaccination or the test. According to Kurz, the Green Passport should be introduced throughout Europe as quickly as possible: “The earlier it is at European level, the earlier it is valid for all of Europe, the earlier you can travel with it, the better.” This is particularly important for countries like Austria. “We are an extremely international, export-oriented country, a tourist country. We are closely interwoven with our neighbors. Freedom to travel is extremely important for our citizens.”
The introduction of the “Green Passport” in the whole of the EU is probably a long time
At the European level, however, the introduction is likely to drag on until the summer. Not an ideal solution for Kurz, he would have liked it faster. The politician also finds that there will still be certain differences in the design, at least for the time being, for example with regard to requirements in individual countries. Kurz emphasized that, from his point of view, a different approach was needed: “At the beginning of the pandemic, we were very quick to curtail necessary freedoms to protect people’s health. But we should restore freedom just as quickly.” All vulnerable groups and older people have now been vaccinated. “And through the vaccination everyone has individual protection. We should use the success of the vaccination to restore freedoms.”
However, concerns about new virus variants that would not be covered by the current vaccines should not be ignored. “In the event that at some point a mutation could occur that is not covered by the vaccination, I consider an absolutely realistic scenario.” But a danger must be fought when it is there. “But we cannot protect ourselves now from something that might happen in another part of the world in the fall.”
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