Pandemie error: Epidemiologist criticizes Austria's Corona policy sharply!

Pandemie error: Epidemiologist criticizes Austria's Corona policy sharply!

Österreich - The epidemiologist Gerald Gartlehner draws a sobering record of dealing with Corona pandemic in Austria. In an revealing interview with the Kleine Zeitung, he criticized that politics was often only interested in its own goals. "If our statements fit into the political scheme, they were accepted. Otherwise they were simply ignored," said Gartlehner. In particular, he considered the masses before Christmas 2020 as completely pointless, since it was clear from the start that they were not epidemiologically. The expert advocates that evidence-based decisions should be made in the future in order to avoid incorrect expenditure in the millions, as it was also addressed in ZIB2, where he spoke about the inefficiency of the mass tests and the lack of strategy for free tests.

A central point in Gartlehner's analysis was the closure of the schools. He described the decision as one of the biggest mistakes during pandemic and stated that children and young people had become the greatest losers. If you were to evaluate the experiences now, the serious effects on the mental health of children and adolescents could be better understood. As a member of the traffic light commission, he also originally supported the controversial vaccination obligation, but later gives it a mistake, since the omikron variant no longer had a need for it. "Actually, one could have said in January: the obligation to vaccinate was a bad idea, we will take it back," said Gartlehner.

criticism of the preparation and measures

The criticism of the government failure is through his entire conclusion: "Austria was very poorly prepared for a pandemic". The epidemic law comes from the time of the monarchy, and even the plans written afterwards were not adequately tailored to the challenges of a pandemic. Gartlehner looks back on a time full of missed opportunities and wrong decisions. An example of this are the Lockdowns, which in his view would have been partially avoidable, especially the last during the Delta wave that you could have saved if the vaccination rate had been higher.

In order to learn from these experiences, Gartlehner calls for a comprehensive scientific reappraisal of pandemic. "It is important that we learn something. An evaluation of the past three years has never taken place, and I also know no plans," he summed up in his conversation. In his view, this processing should be carried out under the direction of independent researchers in order to avoid possible conflicts of interest, as well as . The goal of questioning and learning political and scientific decisions is considered crucial for the future.