Behind the scenes: – Big fight about missing corona figures from Vienna

Officially, almost no one wants to comment on the sensitive topic. However, insiders explain that the dispute, which has long been dormant, is escalating. The federal government is accusing Vienna, or rather the office of the Red City Council for Health Peter Hacker, of providing incorrect or outdated figures, making the situation in Vienna’s hospitals appear more dramatic than it actually is.

“Not through, but with”
At the Summer Council of Ministers in Mauerbach, government circles recently heard the suspicion that Vienna did not provide the figures to further justify the tightened “Viennese special path” in the fight against corona. The specific suspicion: Vienna wants to cover up that many patients are in hospital not because of, but with a corona infection. The reason why patients need hospitalization is often not corona, but it is presented as such in the statistics.

This annoys some senior members of the ÖVP government, but also the Greens. “I’m getting such cables now,” said a government strategist. Meanwhile, eight federal states would register in the new Covid database, only Vienna not. dIncidentally, the insider also had something tasty in store: “In the past, conscripts were sent by hospitals to get figures…”

“That’s a real lie”
Vienna strongly denies the allegations of allegedly inaccurate figures. The municipality says it cannot deliver for privacy reasons. Municipal hacker asked by “Krone” on Thursday: “That’s a real lie, just fake news. There is no regulation that states that these numbers must be provided. We report hospital data every day and a summary every week, as intended. Suddenly we need personal data forward and be responsible for it under data protection law?”

When asked whether personal data is simply handled more freely in other states, Hacker says: “I am not aware of any reports about the data that the other eight states would provide.” Vienna would also provide such data monthly, “but nobody wants to read it”.

The SPÖ politician has now responded to the conscripts on Facebook: “If such a thing is claimed by a ‘government strategist’ in such a serious discussion, then a government can no longer be saved.” And concludes the “Krone”: “By the way, I am speechless that the Minister of Health is pursuing such a Covid policy. You can even say that he has given up the fight against Covid.”

Reich: “Only 50 percent of those hospitalized”
While hackers and various government representatives don’t give each other anything behind the scenes, the debate has also caught the attention of GECKO boss Katharina Reich. She explained at a press conference about the quarantine that “only 50 percent of those hospitalized with Corona are actually hospitalized because of Covid”, Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) has already mentioned this number, referring to the first findings from new data.

In any case, the new registration system (“Covid Register”) of the federal government will be activated on Friday. The federal states can read in more precise data here – updated daily – from which one hopes a better assessment of the Corona situation. Complexity researcher Peter Klimek explained in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal” on Thursday that insights are finally possible that decision-makers were previously denied during the pandemic.

Facts „no secret“
Ideally, we now know more precisely why patients with Corona are actually in hospital (reason for admission), what previous illnesses they have and, above all, how high the vaccination rate is. Eight federal states would register or are intensively involved in a registration, confirms the GECKO boss. You are going to start now despite the lack of data, she told Ö1. “From Friday this week we will go live.” The dashboard can then also be viewed publicly in approximately 14 days. The data is “no secret”.