BREAKING: here's a quick transcript of the Constitutional Court's questions to Health Minister Mückstein

Highlights incl. hard questions about places of infection, mask mandates, tests, and excess mortality, as well as a series of enquiries into vaccine efficacy and the old of vs. with Covid question

As I mentioned in my last post on developments in Covidistan, a couple of days the Constitutional Court has (finally) began to ask questions. Citing §20 (3) VfGG (Verfassungsgerichtshofgesetz, i.e., the law enumerating the court’s powers), Dr. Andreas Hauer, Professor of Public Law at Johannes Kepler University in Linz (CV here) and since 2018 one of the country’s supreme constitutional judges, sent a long and detailed inquest to the Health Ministry.

This is a rather long post, and for reasons of clarity, I will simply provide a rough translation of Judge Hauer’s letter, followed by a brief couple of notes.

I shall refrain from further commentary on the less-than-despicable treatment the inquest has received in Covidistan legacy media, which I shall comment on in the next instalment. At this point, I shall simply re-iterate that both state and de facto state media are ‘reporting’ on this (e.g., here and here) in all but the most selective way; on top of it, their ‘reporting’ is almost literally identical and devoid of both any links to the original source (which you can find here).

Editorial comment: sometimes I cite verbatim from the letter, at times I’m going to paraphrase the content; all numbers refer to the numbered questions (and not to page numbers). Emphases in Italics in the original (mine are in bold).

Without much further ado, here’s the Constitutional Court’s list of questions.

1) Of vs. with Covid-19

Citing the current crop of the Covid-19 Maßnahmen-Gesetz, and in particular the flurry of decrees (Verordnungen), the letter opens by asking about the oft-repeated numbers persons hospitalised, admitted to ICUs, and died of Covid-19. Referring to media reports from mid-October 2021, mention is made of official communiqués that confirmed ‘patients were admitted to ICUs due to, e.g., renal failure, but if they also tested positive for Covid-19’, they were counted as ‘Covid-19 cases’.

Basically, the Court is asking for detailed information (data) pertaining to hospitalisation and death numbers of those who were ‘infected with’, as opposed to those who were hospitalised or died ‘of Sars-Cov-2’. Furthermore, the Court wishes to learn which way of counting was presented to the public and why this was done.

If the former counting (with Covid-19) was chosen [doh], the Court asks for data as to

The number of people who died of Covid-19 and those who died with Sars-Cov-2.

The number of people who were admitted to ICUs with Covid-19.

The number of people who were hospitalised with Covid-19 vs. patients who were hospitalised for other reasons (incl. asymptomatic infection with Sars-Cov-2).

The Court wishes to know the concrete cumulative data as well as per 25 Jan. 2022, all broken down by age cohorts.

2) Age of patients and dead of vs. with Covid-19

Here, the court wishes to know both the average and the median age of hospitalised (incl. ICU admissions) and dead.

3) Specific Data on Rates, broken down into age cohorts

Here, the court wishes to obtain data on the rate of death per 100,000 cases [Erkrankungsfälle, i.e., positive PCR tests], broken down by age and sex, in particular with respect to hospitalisations, ICU admissions, and deaths.

Similar data is requested with respect to infections and deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

4) What Virus Variants are we Talking About?

Data on the nature and prevalence of virus variants per 1 Jan., 25 Jan. 2022, and current-as-of-now [tagesaktuell] is requested, incl. their distribution across cases, hospitalisations, and deaths.

5) Where do People become Infected?

Data on the location, or context, of where people are infected is requested (e.g., family, workplace, in supermarkets or while shopping, spare-time activities).

6) About Masks

What is the reduction of the risk of infection and transmission, if FFP2 [KN-95] masks are worn inside?

7) About these Vaccinations…

What is the distribution of vaccination status, broken down into once, twice, and triple jabbed across the different age brackets?

About Omicron, what was the average 7-day-incidence in Jan. 2022 for the unvaccinated vs. for doubly vaccinated but within the first 14 days after the second jab vs. the doubly vaccinated after these 14 days vs. the recently boosted?

How high is the reduction of risk for severe disease, if vaccinated? Media reports up to 95%. Yet, the average risk (without taking into account age and individual health status) appears to be 0.1516% right now (as per the AGES dashboard). What is to be understood by these 95%? Please explain absolute vs. relative risk reduction.

What is the risk reduction for hospitalisation, ICU admission, and death, broken down into of vs. with Covid-19, as well as into 1, 2, and 3 doses. Is the virus variant of relevance for these risks?

Media reports waning vaccine efficacy [VE] over time with respect to test-positivity, infection, and transmission; how and by what factor does VE wane in these three categories? If these rates vary over time according to the number of doses and/or time elapsed between/since them, please elucidate.

Media reports waning VE over time. If this is true, how high is VE for the most commonly applied vaccine [Comirnaty] after three, six, and nine months after the second dose? Please differentiate between absolute vs. relative risk reduction.

How high is the number of people vaccinated with 1, 2, and 3 doses who are hospitalised with, as opposed to for, Covid-19?

Science indicates that vaccinated individuals may test positive, become infected, and can transmit Covid-19. What are the rates vaccination protects against these? If these rates vary over time according to the number of doses and/or time elapsed between/since them, please elucidate.

8) About these Tests

What are the odds that someone who tested negative [rt-PCR] for Covid-19 is able to infect someone else with Sars-Cov-2 within 72 hours? With respect to Covid-19’s incubation time, what are the odds if someone who tested negative may be able to transmit Sars-Cov-2?

What is the risk a doubly-vaccinated individual transmits Sars-Cov-2, if the second dose was taken three, six, and eight months ago, all relative to an unvaccinated person whose negative rt-PCR test is no older than 24 hours?

9) Unvaccinated and Risk

What is the Covid-related risk of an unvaccinated 25yo person to become hospitalised or admitted to the ICU over a year?

What is the Covid-related risk of a doubly vaccinated (with the most commonly-applied vaccine [Comirnaty]) 25yo person to become hospitalised or admitted to the ICU after three, six, and nine months in the same period?

What is the Covid-related risk of an unvaccinated 65yo person to become hospitalised or admitted to the ICU over a year?

What is the Covid-related risk of a doubly vaccinated (with the most commonly-applied vaccine [Comirnaty]) 65yo person to become hospitalised or admitted to the ICU after three, six, and nine months in the same period?

The so-called ‘Lockdown for the Unvaccinated’ cannot rule out infection at home or at work, but elsewhere (e.g., a restaurant). With reference to 5), the court wishes to know the risk reduction for an unvaccinated individual in percent (basis: infection risk without ‘lockdown for the unvaccinated’).

It is assumed that the ‘lockdown for the unvaccinated’ is based on the assumption that unvaccinated individuals have a higher risk for hospitalisation vs. vaccinated individuals, hence derives a higher risk for healthcare services. Now, it would appear that the risk of hospitalisation is very much related to age; vaccine uptake also varies across age cohorts. Be that as it may, vaccine uptake across the board is c. 75% ‘fully vaccinated’ [i.e., 2 doses]; furthermore, risk of infection also varies across people’s activities, but the ‘lockdown for the unvaccinated’ may exclude the unvaccinated from certain such areas. All considered, what is the effect of the ‘lockdown for the unvaccinated’ with reference to their share of hospitalisations?

As of 24 Jan 2022, AGES’ official dashboard notes 1,049 Covid hospitalisations and 194 Covid-related ICU admissions. How many beds in our hospitals and ICUs would be occupied if there was no ‘lockdown for the unvaccinated’?

10) Excess Mortality

According to media reports, it was reported [on 2 Dec. 2022] that there are 1/3 less Covid-associated deaths, but weekly excess mortality exceeds 100. Is this true? If so, please explain excess mortality for 2021?

Brief Notes (mine)

Covidistan media is reporting on this very selectively and in a dismissive tone (more on this in the next post).

I think that the most important points are 5 (where people become infected), 6 (mask mandates), 8 (tests), and 10 (excess mortality), because these directly affect everyone in the short and long term.

The ‘vaccine’ points are, of course, valid, too, but they are mainly important for the potentially self-destructive answers provided by Mückstein and his ilk.

If the régime answers these issues only partially honestly, they are toast.

More soon, in the meantime, please let me know what you think.