In Austria we are just as affected by the coronavirus as any other country in the world. It is the nature of a pandemic that it affects the whole world. But in this crisis situation Austria shows its very own character again. While we made it through the crisis reasonably well in the first lockdown in the spring of last year, after the summer we slid with full force into record levels of infection. In November and December we had an excess mortality of up to 60 percent.
To get this catastrophe under control, we have been in lockdown since November. It is an Austrian form of lockdown, which is characterized by the fact that everyone can move freely at any time and even ice rinks and ski slopes are open. For this reason, the number of infections is falling much more slowly than hoped.
Our lockdown is provisionally limited to February 8th and aims to keep the 7-day incidence below 50 (daily infections per 100,000 inhabitants). From this number onwards, the infections can be traced back. So we would have the virus under control again. But instead of keeping an eye on this goal, the national debate is now starting whether the lockdown should end on February 8th.
Just today I called a friend who said to me: “I’ve had enough. I want the lockdown to end on February 8th. I want to go to the coffee house again.”
The fact is that the virus can only be brought under control if we limit our contacts. If our contacts drop by 50 percent across the country, the number of infections will also decrease accordingly. If we lift our contact restrictions, the number of infections will explode again.
The infection numbers are not the real problem. More than 98 percent of people usually survive this infection. The problem is medical care. When the intensive care units are overloaded, only 90 percent survive, as it was the case in Italy at the beginning. The others are murdered.
Our contacts murder people. It’s hard to understand, but that’s the essence of a pandemic.
“I want to go to the coffee house again!”
At what cost?
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Vienna Calling 