Linz – Upper Austria’s governor (Prime Minister) Thomas Stelzer pulls the emergency brake on Wednesday after a summit meeting with Federal Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein. From Monday, a lockdown for unvaccinated people will apply in the first Austrian federal state. Stelzer said on Thursday in Linz: “We no longer have the leeway to wait and see whether the measures taken will take effect.” There are also further tightening, such as the FFP2 mask in all interior areas. In addition, events are canceled for at least three weeks without exception – for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Should the situation stabilize afterwards, an opening for vaccinated people on a 2G basis would be conceivable. A general lockdown is currently not planned.
He realized that the measure would continue to divide the country, said Stelzer. He said that two thirds in Upper Austria were vaccinated, but that the focus of the debate was always only on the unvaccinated, whom the governor referred to with the depreciated term “sleepers”. In Austria, this is understood to mean a person who uses lies and cunning to gain insidious advantages.
In Bavaria, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) is also proposing a lockdown for unvaccinated people. Söder wants to introduce blanket access bans for unvaccinated people.