The state crisis coordination GECKO is extremely skeptical about the end of the government-mandated corona quarantine. This is according to a report published Thursday. In the current situation, lifting the isolation of people who have tested positive comes with ‘some incalculable risks’. This can lead to loss of control over the infection process with a concomitant increase in the number of infections.
How the quarantine waiver will actually affect “cannot be specified exactly at this time”. But given the current SARS-CoV-2 variants (with increased transmissibility with reduced pathogenicity), the GECKO experts expect a “very unstable starting situation” for late summer or early fall. Much is still unclear, such as the properties of BA.4/5 or the duration and efficiency of vaccination protection against it.
Comparison with other countries “not correct”
GECKO considers the comparison to other countries “unwise” – which Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) and Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) have repeatedly put forward to justify it. But there are significant differences, GECKO noted: immunization rates in, say, Spain or Denmark are much higher, other vaccines were sometimes used — and in other countries, this step was actually always taken when the new infection curve dropped steeply.
“You also have to take that into account in Austria” and “in principle do not reduce measures when the curve rises at a high level or moves sideways,” the experts had told the government before its decision to abolish the quarantine in mid-summer. Golf. They also stressed that if corona-infected people were not isolated, “efforts in other areas” would need to be stepped up, especially to protect vulnerable people – for example, to increase the number of tests in these areas.
The experts do not quite share the hope for “personal responsibility” emphasized by government representatives: the easing of pandemic measures could, as seen before, be interpreted as a signal of low risk. “It is therefore to be expected that as the perception of danger decreases, compliance with measures and self-responsible preventive behavior will decrease.”
GECKO: “Need better vaccination protection”
From the point of view of the GECKO experts, efforts to improve vaccination protection are urgently needed. At just 56 percent, Austria has a very low percentage of completed primary vaccinations (ie three stitches) – and for many, the second stitch is so far behind that they no longer have any relevant protection. Given the even stronger immune defenses of the new BA.4/5 variants, the fourth vaccination for the elderly population should be recommended “immediately and emphatically”. Data from the US would show that the age limit of 65+ was set too high. Austria would have to force the fourth trick even with slightly younger people (about 60). According to GECKO, a fifth vaccination will also “probably” be needed in the winter.
Source: Krone
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