The corona numbers are falling, but Austria’s Minister of Health Johannes Rauch is sticking to the FFP2 mask requirement in public areas.
Summer is approaching, temperatures are rising, the corona numbers are falling and Austria is still carrying FFP2-Mask– as one of the last three countries in Europe. Nothing will change that anytime soon, because Minister of Health John Rauch sticks to the measure, at least until the current one COVID-19 Basic Measures Ordinance ends – and that is not the case until July 8th.
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GECKO leader Catherine Reich even goes one step further here: the top official of the Ministry of Health not only wants us to sweat with masks until the long holidays, but right through the whole summer. She recently spoke out in favor of an FFP2 mask requirement over the summer – in supermarkets, public transport and all areas that vulnerable groups also have to visit. But the protection of The risk group is not Reich’s only reason, psychological, social habit also play a role here.
Minimize high risk
For Minister Rauch, however, there is only one reason to continue to maintain the measure: “One Mask requirement currently applies – in different forms – in 13 European countries. The regulations in Austria serve to protect people with an increased risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid-19. They are limited to those areas that these people have to visit in everyday life “Today”.
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Next meeting is already on
Whether anything will change following July 8th depends on the development of the corona numbers, which are continuously evaluated, updated and adjusted. “An evaluation of the current basic measures is carried out continuously and of course with an open outcome. As usual, the forecasts of the forecast consortium, the technical assessments of the Corona Commission and the recommendations of GECKO are incorporated into the decision. The next meeting is on Friday.”
In the end, a reasonable overall view of the epidemiological situation in Austria is crucial, “in which all relevant parameters such as infection numbers, hospital occupancy, etc. are taken into account.”
