At University Hospital In Salzburg, critically ill Andreas Kokofer oversees the operation of the hospital Covid-19 disease a disease with an unavoidable problem. With the cases reached a daily amount of 15,809 on November 19, Kokofer and his colleagues are preparing to find patients.
The Salzburg government is to blame for the current epidemic, and 1,731 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, compared to 1,110 in the whole of Austria. With things expected to worsen in the coming weeks, local hospital administrators are beginning to consider the possibility of making difficult decisions for Covid-19 patients who need more treatment, which they will not.
So how has Austria been at such a critical juncture, with so many countries preparing to launch their own campaign against the epidemic? The reasons for the increase, from the lack of adequate security to the social and cultural storm, led by long-standing political divisions, have led many Austrians to reject the Covid-19 vaccine.
The risks, Austria is facing could affect many other countries – and it all comes as a result of a good numerical ranking. As the crisis neared, Austrian President Alexander Schallenberg was forced to make a seemingly impossible decision just a few weeks ago. By Monday, the country has entered a full moon lockdown, bringing about the reversal of the sanctions that many expect to end. As of 2020, Austrians are being asked to stay home and just leave home for important reasons. Schools remain open, although parents are urged to keep their children at home if possible.
The decision has sparked outrage in some parts of the country. Last week, 40,000 people entered the streets of Vienna, some carrying placards depicting Schallenberg with Nazi leaders.
But although doctors say the current crisis may not be the same as it was in the early days of the epidemic, they are deeply concerned about the quality of health care in the coming weeks. “Things are not going well,” Kokofer said. “We need to stop the cancer and heart surgery that we have planned. Closure gives us hope that the numbers will get to where they are.”
Although these new sanctions have unexpectedly affected many people in Austria, experts say the crisis has already begun. According to Eva Schernhammer, an epidemiologist at the Medical University of Vienna, the onset of winter and home migration has made Covid-19 relatively easy to spread. Immune levels are also starting to decline among those who received the vaccine earlier in the year, making them at greater risk for Delta.
Schernhammer suspects it has a problem in Austria, with the lowest number of vaccines in Western Europe: 65.7 percent of the population has a serious problem, a lower rate than in the United Kingdom (68.7 percent), in France, Italy. and Germany. In comparison, Portugal has one of the highest vaccines in Europe, with 86.9 percent of the population having a standard vaccine. From November 22, the daily number of Covid-19 cases per million million was 145 in Portugal, compared with 1,527 in Austria.