So since yesterday deniers, no vax and no green pass can no longer go to public places. They may go out to work, showing a molecular swab, or move to grocery shopping and for health reasons
VIENNA. In Vienna, the turns of phrase are over. “Are you vaccinated?” The gentleman shows a medical certificate and gets excited. The waiter calls the police, the agents arrive in Singerstrasse, between the cathedral, McDonald’s and the Royal Hotel, load that man into the car and leave. “It has already happened three times this morning,” says Alexander Danet, the waiter in question. So we all find ourselves at “Caffè Aida” with a new awareness: the customers of this bar are vaccinated or cured of the covid, tertium non datur. Since yesterday deniers, no vax and no green pass can no longer go to public places in Austria. No shops, restaurants, bars, gyms, cinemas, concerts, football matches. They can leave for work, showing a molecular swab. Or move to go shopping and for health reasons. “Vienna is emptier today,” says engineer Wolfang Mayer, slowly eating a piece of cake. «But that’s right. Anyone who endangers the health of others must remain under house arrest ».
Here, we said: end of turns of phrase. For example, Chancellor Alexander Shallenberg defined the percentage of Austrians who received at least the first dose of the vaccine as “shameful”: 67% (in Italy, 87%). He explained the need for this new lockdown aimed exclusively at No Vax in a clear way: “My goal is to vaccinate the unvaccinated.” The measure affects 2 million Austrians out of 8.9 million residents. And the Interior Ministry Karl Nehammer immediately announced the new course: “It can happen at any moment. It doesn’t matter where or when. Every Austrian citizen should expect to be checked by the police. ‘ Then he gave a mandate to the 32,000 officers on duty to ask for the vaccination certificate in any context. Noises at night. Road accidents. Routine checks. Every single public safety intervention will also include that fateful question: are you vaccinated? They make it for you at the Führich restaurant. As well as at the Am Hof Christmas market, where you can drink mulled wine or ice-cold beer outdoors. But the entrances are controlled. And there that a woman named Melani, with the uniform of a private security, asks for vaccination and an identity document: «Today we have already had to fight too many times. I was forced to call other colleagues to restore calm. It is not easy to explain the new rules ». The fines for those who organize an illegal event – that is with the No Vax – reach 30 thousand euros. For a citizen who is refractory to checks, the starting point is 1450 euros. To use the most abused phrase of the moment, Austria is trying to “save Christmas” with the doubt of not succeeding. The country is defined as a “high-risk area”. Controls at the airport have become stringent. The FFP2 mask requirement has been introduced for all travelers, vaccinated or not. And from yesterday even Austrian elementary school students will have to wear it during class hours. A vaccination pilot project has started for children aged 5 to 11. But it will be two hundred administrations a day: a small drop in the sea of this new great fear. Even the Minister of Health did not use sophistry. “The unvaccinated become six times more infected than the vaccinated,” said Wolfgang Mückestein. “This lockdown was necessary because the situation in intensive care is dramatic.” Then adding a sentence that has thrown everyone into despair: “Further restrictions for night outings are already under discussion”. And the restrictions would affect all Austrian citizens. That is why it is perhaps already too late.
Yesterday in Austria there were 11,746 new infections. The weekly average of 15,000 infections per day is rising: almost 850 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Now vaccinated and unvaccinated they will live separate lives, at least for fifteen days, in what is the first European lockdown dedicated to those who do not want to take care of themselves and the community. This is how this half-empty city is explained. That’s why two ladies run away with little desire to talk: “Whatever you think of it, it’s a very bad situation.” Traders are afraid of losing money. Obviously: three out of ten Viennese can no longer leave their homes and therefore spend. The government promises support. But no one thought they would find themselves again at this point.
To make the Viennese November even grotesque, there is the news that one of the most famous No Vax in the country, Herbert Kickl, the secretary of the ultra-right denier party, has had covid since yesterday. He recommended vermicides and abstruse medicines. Now he will have to stay in quarantine and skip the demonstration scheduled for Saturday. At the foot of the Cathedral of Santo Stefano, one of the symbols of the city, they have already turned on the Christmas lights and assembled the little houses for the holidays. There isn’t a single tourist visiting Vienna who doesn’t come this far to take a picture. “I don’t know why we have reduced ourselves in this way,” says Madame Margareta Pohler disconsolately behind the counter of her liquor stand. Nobody stops today. «I don’t like lockdowns, I like freedom, I like the city full of life. Here’s what the Austrians have to do. Let everyone go and get vaccinated! But immediately! Before it’s too late”.
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