While the federal government is trying to curb dissatisfaction with the country’s handling of the corona crisis through a “dialogue process”, many local experts now feel alienated. The government has too often not followed the well-founded advice, so the criticism – otherwise you would have clean air in the classrooms after more than three years of a pandemic.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) explained on Wednesday that the government had too “listened to experts” – the same experts should now explain “why they came to this decision”, he fired flatly against the scientific advice in the pandemic.
Advice “completely ignored”
The experts feel alienated by the Chancellor’s statements. Nehammer’s statement was “counterproductive and wrong”, summarizes communication scientist Jakob-Moritz Eberl of the University of Vienna in the ORF “ZiB Nacht”. In essence, “a lot of good” happened during the pandemic, but politicians very often went against the scientific consensus despite clear positions, consultations and analysis.
Not only was this often “completely ignored”, it was often explained that corresponding decisions were also “backed by experts”, although this was not the case.
„Then we already had clean air in schools“
This was particularly evident in the case of the GECKO Commission, which was actually set up by the government and repeatedly contradicted alleged expert recommendations. As a concrete example, Eberl now mentions the safety measures in schools – if the advice of the experts in this field had been taken seriously, “we would already have clean air in the classrooms today”.
Statements by Nehammer „scandalous”
He is not alone in this assessment. Geneticist Ulrich Elling also described the comments on Twitter as “outrageous”. Rather, they would indicate a misunderstanding of the role of experts in politics: “Politicians decide — and only they,” Elling said. The renowned statistician also explained: “This formulation of BK Nehammer surprises me very much”, showing his misunderstanding that experts now apparently have to take responsibility for wrong decisions.
The covid expert and lung specialist Arshang Valipour was also upset. Politicians “often” did not listen to the advice – to shun responsibility for the cracks that have appeared in society is “weird”.
Politics often reacted too late
The health economist Thomas Czypionka also explained in the ORF “ZiB 2” that after a good start at the beginning of the first outbreak, political decisions were often taken too late and therefore had to be in force for too long to cope with the waves of infection. critical waves of infections, despite appropriate warnings, were not taken seriously enough. He also mentioned the so-called lockdown for unvaccinated people and the – not yet introduced – mandatory vaccination mistakes of the politicians.
Do not accept the arguments of opponents
Eberl has now shown understanding that the processes of the pandemic are now being processed – “that makes sense” – but the experts should not be placed under “general suspicion”, nor would they have made the decisions. He also warns against adopting the “framing” of the opponents of the measures, as it had been shown that the “trauma” mentioned by the Chancellor was rather the result of the consequences of the pandemic and not necessarily caused by the measures.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
