Covid in Austria: Talk is Very Cheap--as the régime's contempt for us, the people, becomes even more palpable

A press briefing announces the coming revocation of the Injection Mandate, but the Covid-19 Emergencies Act isn't discussed by anyone: as long as it stays on the books, all bets are off

I hate to break ‘bad’ news to anyone, in particular because the news coming out of Covidistan is actually not that bad. At least—at first sight.

While long-time reader ‘Witzbold’ posted this news first in one of the comments of my last dedicated post on the subject matter, here’s a bit more information about it, courtesy of fellow substacker eugyppius:

Austria Set to Retire the Vaccine Mandate by End of August

Two days ago, in response to Witzbold’s comment, I wrote this:

That was unexpected, I agree.

I’ll write something before too long, but my gut feeling is--it's about the next state-level elections, due in autumn, as well as the presidential election in mid-November: to avoid an even bigger loss, the régime castrates its one (failed) policy decision.

Well played.

I do stand by this, in particular as the record clearly shows that I’ve called the entire undertaking—both the ‘lockdown for the unvaccinated’ as well as ‘compulsory vaccination’—one gigantic policy failure, and I did so in late November 2021:

The Covidistan Committee of Public Safety Meets

The issue I’d like to get into right now, though, is something eugyppius didn’t address: why rescind—or, better: at least announce the revocation of—this divisive measure now?

Sure, it’s a ‘big f****** thing’ to double and quadruple down on such an insane measure, only to never really implement it for whatever reasons before announcing, in almost ‘classic’ Covidistan style, its revocation at a press briefing.

You know, it’s not as if there’d be a ‘regular’ procedure for this: an MP or a cabinet-level official proposes legislation or a motion, which is subsequently discussed and voted on in the pertinent parliamentary committee(s) before a full vote is called.

By now, these established procedures and expectations have apparently decayed to such an incredible degree that some people—apparently including eugyppius who almost laments the fact in his (now, after a brief update, pen-) ultimate paragraph:

They’ll never acknowledge any weakness, they’ll deny us the appearance of every victory. And yet, despite everything they do to present an invulnerable facade, they’re not all-powerful. We haven’t won victories everywhere, but what we have done, is increase the cost of their policies, make them look ridiculous, and develop a more compelling discourse about the pandemic, than the pandemicist experts themselves have ever been able to manage.

I respectfully disagree with this sentiment, and here is why:

The notion of a ‘victory’ in this case, achieved at whatever cost, appears to presuppose and, eventually, accept the notion that Sars-Cov-2 is actually a ‘new’ threat, which, of course, requires extraordinary measures.

This isn’t a statement about the meaningful occurrence of the announcement. Rather, talk is cheap, and after two and a half years of this insanity, to rely on any of these politicians’ words is, I’d argue, meaningless.

Why, you may ask?

As the leader of the main opposition party, the FPÖ’s Herbert Kickl reportedly stated, what is required now is (my emphases)

a swift date for a debate in the parliamentary Healthcare Committee is now needed so that the law can be rescinded before the summer recess. Along with the Compulsory Injection Act, the Covid-19 Emergencies Act [Covid-Maßnahmen-Gesetz] must also be repealed, for its mere existence allows for ‘mandatory vaccination through the backdoor’. [Kickl continues that] ‘otherwise the Health Minister can use decrees [Verordnungen] at any time to re-enact measures such as 2-G access restrictions, lockdowns for the unvaccinated and thus the exclusion of the unvaccinated from public life’, Kickl is quoted as saying in a press release.

I don’t know what else to say but this: Mr. Kickl is correct. The Covid-19 Emergencies Act is an abomination, and you can find its current version here.

The Covid-19 Emergencies Act is a Downer

§1 is a blanket authorization to ‘regulate’ virtually every aspect of civic everyday life, as long as any ‘mandate serves to prevent the spread of Covid-19’. As (1) specifies, this empowerment of the government explicitly includes ‘lingering’ or ‘staying’ (Verweilen), i.e., it’s the abrogation of the basic constitutional liberty of freedom of assembly, enshrined in various ways since the promulgation in 1867 of the Austria’s first written constitution.

Further sections clarify that the régime may restrict even drive-through or -by activities, mandate face masks, or, as Section (5.3) explains,

other protective measures such as organisational or spatial measures,

And, tucked away in Section (5.5), the following ‘gem’, which spells out what ‘measures’ (Auflagen) the régime may be taking, including provisions relating to

The carrying of evidence of only a low epidemiological risk (para. 5a) in connection with

a) entering and driving to business premises for the purpose of acquiring goods or using services, using means of transport, and entering and driving to certain places, with the exception of business premises, means of transport or certain places entered and driven to or used for the purpose of meeting necessary basic needs of daily life,

b) entering and driving into places of work (§ 3 par. 1 fig. 2) where physical contact with other persons cannot be excluded,

c) entering retirement and nursing homes, as well as in-patient residential facilities for the disabled, and

d) participation in meetings.

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I don’t wish to bore or annoy anyone with the remainder of this abomination of a law. Yet, it’s the law of the land, and it, too, presupposes that the long-held Epidemics Act (Epidemiegesetz) of 1950 (see here) isn’t good enough.

Now, we can—and, in fact, should have, a public debate about whether or not this is actually the case: do Sars-Cov-2 and Covid-19 constitute cause for a rewriting of the Epidemics Act?

Nothing of the sort is happening, and ‘not even’ the FPÖ is actually talking about this in public.

One day soon I will offer some more ‘commentary’ by the usual suspects of Covid hawkery in Covidistan, for tonight the below—admittedly bitter—lines will have to do:

Do these ‘politicians’ actually think we’re all idiots?

Do they actually hold us, the people, in such contempt that they think that a press briefing with a few less-than-lofty words will just make this all go away?

There will be state elections in major ÖVP-governed states, including the Tyrol (whose governor just announced his resignation) and the most important state of Lower Austria, the ÖVP’s home-base. None of these elections can be held after spring 2023.

In addition, there are presidential elections scheduled for mid-November 2022 at the latest.

Yet, the various appointees—just like Chief Medical Officer Ms. Reich—announce that masks ‘may be coming back before autumn’.

This isn’t rocket science. This is contempt for us, the people.

We, the people, or: at last, those of us who didn’t submit so far, shall be conquered next. They aren’t making any qualms about it, whatever their cheap talk.

Why would I say that: there was no apology by anyone, not even in the most perfunctory sense of the term.

Woe to the vanquished, the ancients said.

We’re still next in line.

Don’t let your guard down.