Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg is ready to “give the green light” to a total lockdown in his country.
But only for the unvaccinated.
As another wave of COVID-19 infections sweeps across the continent, authorities have run out of ideas on what to do to control the spread of infection.
Once again, Europe has become the epicenter of the pandemic around the world as more than half the cases over the last week occurred in EU countries.
“The aim is clear: we want on Sunday to give the green light for a nationwide lockdown for the unvaccinated,” Schallenberg said at a news conference in Innsbruck.
It’s the same in many other EU countries.
His warning came as a wave of Covid-19 infections sweeps central Europe. A three-week partial lockdown was expected to be announced in the Netherlands on Friday evening, Reuters reported, with health officials reporting a rapid rise in cases there.
Norway also announced new measures on Friday, while people in the German capital Berlin are preparing for fresh restrictions that come into place on Monday.
Under Austria’s plan, which was agreed in September, unvaccinated Austrians will face a stay-at-home order once 30% of intensive-care beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients. The current rate is 21%, according to the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), and a surge in infections has pushed it up quickly.
It’s not being discussed publicly very much but if the pandemic can’t be stopped with a large-scale vaccination program, what’s the answer?
New data shows that 80 percent of people hospitalized for COVID were not vaccinated. Of course, the flip side to that data point is that fully 20 percent of people in the hospital because of a COVID infection were vaccinated.
A vaccination with limited immunity over time is almost worthless. If, as it appears, people are going to need a booster shot every year — or more often — restrictions and lockdowns could become the norm if people allow it.
But a combination of low vaccine take-up in some parts, waning immunity among those inoculated early and complacency about masks and distancing as governments relaxed curbs over the summer are likely to blame, virologists and public health experts told Reuters.
“If there’s one thing to learn from this it’s not to take your eye off the ball,” said Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick Medical School in the UK.
The World Health Organization’s report for the week to Nov. 7 showed that Europe, including Russia, was the only region to record a rise in cases, up 7%, while other areas reported declines or stable trends.
The CDC has reportedly given up on the goal of achieving herd immunity in the United States which was inevitable given their definition of what herd immunity is. If vaccinations are not the “silver bullet” they’ve been touted to be, we either have to dig holes in the ground and hide or live our lives according to our own, personal choices.
My choices are governed by my age and medical conditions. But I wouldn’t dream of asking someone else to live their life a certain way for my benefit. I can take care of myself.
I just wish the government would let us all do that.
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