Is Austria Closing Up to Brits

Let's hope not for too long.

The Austrian National Tourist Office has updated its entry regulations webpage:

"NEW: Virus variant areas United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway

The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway will be classified as a virus variant region from 25 December in Austria.

Everyone travelling from these countries needs to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival.
Exception: People who are fully vaccinated AND have received the booster can enter Austria with a negative PCR test. Children under 12 are exempt too and teenagers eligible for the Holiday Ninja Pass will be able to enter with a negative PCR test.

PLEASE NOTE: The Austrian National Tourist Office is not an authority and cannot provide any legally binding information."

https://www.austria.info/en/service-and-facts/coronavirus-information/entry-regulations

According to an Austrian National Tourist Office survey published today around half of the bookings for
between Christmas and the beginning of January have been cancelled and bookings for the whole of January are currently only 33% of available capacity. At 46% February is not much better.

The Austrians are expecting the number of cases to rise to 15,000 a day by the first week of January.

The Austrians are expecting the number of cases to rise to 15,000 a day by the first week of January.

That would be higher than the peak they recently had before lockdown a month ago...? Meaning they are expecting the rate to go up >400% over two weeks??

There has to be alternatives to endless boosters schemes because this will be the pattern until the virus dies out.

That is what is being reported in the Austrian press, the figure comes from Austria's COVID Prognosis Consortium and is based on mathematical modelling. 15,000 cases is likely to be one of the triggers for a lockdown and is probably at the top end of expectations.

The Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force reckons that there could be up to 20,000 cases per day by the second week of January.

Hope they dont use the UK modelling method. But expect it is all on worse case scenario which might be at odds with on the ground experience, i.e this variant is mild, by many accounts.

One might opine that barricading the front door after the enemy has entered through the back door and the windows is not a successful strategy.

It is abundantly clear that there is no possibility of eradicating this strain of coronovirus any more effectively than we have any other coronovirus in our past.

In the past new coronoviruses have hit human kind. Killing many, especially the elderly and infirm. Children mount an effective response as they do against most infections and sail through it courtesy of an immune system that is in tip top learning mode. Adults have a rougher time but generally do OK. Once the peaks have passed the numbers dwindle forming part of the winter colds, going round every few years infecting the next generation of children and re-infecting those who's immunity was dwindled giving them a bad cold. Ultimately that is what will happen to covid. We will hopefully, using the vaccines diminish the severity of the pandemic but we won't eradicate it.

At what point do countries open up to travel properly with a vaccine requirement until the numbers have dwindled to the point that we stop checking vaccine status? Not for a few years but pre-travel testing is expensive and ineffective.

They once claimed to have eradicated head lice from the Isle of Wight, only for the next ferry to come in.

That's where we are with Covid, let people who are unlikely to end up in hospital travel freely and restrict the unvaccinated both because they could end up in hospital but also act as superspreaders.

Fantastic news, 3 vaccine jabs and you're in.

Everyone should be celebrating!