Lower Austria and Burgenland are waiting: Vienna is pushing ahead with mask compulsory

Vienna pushed forward again on Wednesday with regard to the CoV measures. After the federal capital announced at the beginning of the week that the lockdown would be extended until April 10th, an FFP2 mask will also apply outdoors in several places in Vienna from Thursday. According to the Mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig (SPÖ), the Danube Canal, Schwedenplatz and Stephansplatz, Karlsplatz with the adjoining Resselpark and Maria-Theresien-Platz between the Museum of Art and Natural History are affected.

It is still unclear whether these places will remain. As Ludwig emphasized, if you switch to other locations, you would also take appropriate measures there. The mask requirement, like the rest of the lockdown, should last at least until April 10th – more on this in wien.ORF.at.

Burgenland hopes to coordinate with Lower Austria

This date is still in the area for Burgenland and Lower Austria. In the two federal states, the lockdown that begins on Thursday ends on April 6, according to the currently valid ordinance of the health minister. From the office of the provincial governor of Burgenland, however, it was said on Wednesday that all three federal states in eastern Austria needed to close ranks.

Regarding the question of how things will continue in the other two federal states, the situation with the infections as well as in the hospitals and especially in the intensive care units should be observed until Friday and a decision should then be made. Doskozil had already announced in the “Report” interview on Tuesday evening that he would speak out to Lower Austria’s governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) for an extension of the lockdown in both federal states – more on this in burgenland.ORF.at.

Even if a decision is not expected before Friday, the countries – also with the Ministry of Health – exchange information on a daily basis. The ongoing coordination between the federal states and the federal government is “definitely target-oriented,” said Mikl-Leitner’s office on Wednesday upon request. Accordingly, “we are in contact with each other on a daily basis” – more about this in noe.ORF.at

Anschober advocates nationwide expansion

Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) considers the expansion of the measures, as he has emphasized several times in the past few days, to be urgently necessary – not only for the duration in Burgenland and Lower Austria, but also to other federal states.

The number of infections per se would increase linearly, but at the same time there is a dramatic increase in the number of seriously ill patients. With the exception of Vorarlberg, the utilization figures in the intensive care units have now also risen steeply. The minister told the Federal Council on Tuesday that an emergency braking action was also needed in the other federal states to reduce the number of infections. Anschober hopes to find a good solution for everyone around the Easter holidays, it said on Wednesday in the Ministry of Health.

For the time being, no FFP2 requirement in the workplace

According to its own information, the Ministry of Health is still looking for a solution with regard to the expansion of the FFP2 mask requirement indoors. A week ago, Anschober announced that he wanted to “anchor” an FFP2 obligation for closed rooms in which more than one person is staying for the time of the lockdown in the east. Above all, this would have had an impact on the work area of ​​many people.

As the Ministry of Health confirmed to ORF.at on Wednesday, this extension of the FFP2 mask obligation has been put on hold for the time being. According to the ministry, they wanted to implement the measure together with the mandatory tests in companies. The necessary change in the law was blocked on Tuesday in the Federal Council with the votes of the opposition parties for the coming weeks. A solution is being worked on, according to the ministry. In the past few days, both employee and employer representatives – sometimes side by side – had campaigned against the plans.

Trade continues to shoot against entry tests

First of all, the previously heavily criticized retail access tests are also on hold. They also fell victim to the blockade in the Federal Council for the moment. Nevertheless, retailers renewed their criticism of the plans. “Access tests in the shops would hardly change the number of corona cases, but destroy up to two thirds of all sales in the non-food trade,” said Rainer Will, managing director of the trade association. In Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland alone, that would be just under 280 million euros per week.

If the Federal Council had not exercised its veto, thousands of companies and their employees would have had to control the tests of millions of people in the East alone, Will admitted. “An impossible undertaking.” For body-hugging service providers such as hairdressers, customers have long had to show a negative Covid-19 test. Similar plans for trade met resistance not only from employers’ representatives, but also from the Chamber of Labor and the trade union. It said “not feasible” and “unrealistic”.

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