Covidistan Annals XXXV: Mandate Madness, Healthcare Staffing Shortages, and the Coming of a New Testing Regime

Already in March, '1G' was called for--yep: a 'test' shall be demanded from *everyone* to access public places and businesses

Editorial note: I’m back from my work-related trip, which was weird enough and I shall ‘footnote’ it for you before too long. For now, though, other issues take precedence, in particular the long-overdue Covid in Norway update (coming soon), for now I shall update you developments I Covidistan.

Q: where were we a week ago?

In my last dedicated post (dated 24 March), we explored the return of (some) mandates, most notably indoor mask mandates (KN95 or FFP2) until, well, today. This decision by the ‘new’ Health Minister came after lots of second-guessing and publicised ‘advice’ by any number of ‘experts’. In summary: same shit, different smell.

Q: alright, thanks for the brief recap. Did these mandates work?

Ha, good question—shouldn’t we ask these before we move to implement anything? Before we move on, please let me explain the utter absurdities the return to some forms of mask mandates entail. As the below quote—by non other than notorious Covid mandate hawks at Der Standard illustrates, the word Kafkaesque isn’t too strong (I think it’s way too weak):

Q: which mandates are in place in bars in Vienna?

A: that’s a bit complicated. In a bar with customers sitting down [nothing else would be allowed], a federal mask mandate applies, but no 3G rule [Covid Passport checks]; in Vienna, 2G applies [entry only for ‘vaccinated’ or ‘recovered’], but no mask mandates. Now, based on the Epidemics Act, individual states may institute stronger mandates than the federal government, which renders the Viennese situation ‘the harshest measures’, i.e., mandatory masks and 2G, according to constitutional law professor Peter Bußjäger.

Q: o.k., and what about night clubs?

A: according to federal rules, the owner may choose between 3G checks or indoor masking. Because in Vienna there’s the 2G rule, the owners will certainly elect to do Covid Passport checks, hence, in a Viennese club 2G applies, but no mask mandate (which is to say a less harsh regimen than in a restaurant).

It’s hard to say whether these mandates ‘work’ (and to determine that, we’d need to talk about the criteria of success or failure, too, which wasn’t done).

What hasn’t been done, really, is a definition of any endpoints: no-one knows when, or if, the Committee of Public Safety will declare victory (or admit failure). All they are doing, in my opinion, is running around with their pants of fire trying to be seen ‘doing something’. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Q: last time, you mentioned staffing shortages in the healthcare sector: any changes here?

Yes and no. Despite the harsh mandates in Vienna, and despite especially the quarantine rules exacerbating these staffing shortages, the city-state government will no change any of these rules. To the contrary, as reported in the same piece (linked above), Health and Human Services chieftain Peter Hacker is quoted as follows (my emphases, and see if you can spot the logical fallacy):

‘The [government’s] irresponsible actions will needlessly extend the phase of high incidences. This is tantamount to a healthcare-services capitulation. Infected healthcare workers in Vienna shall, under no circumstances, go to work.’

[Mr. Hacker’s] office stated that many people become symptomatic only after testing positive, and it is virtually impossible to do proper follow-up checks. Furthermore, ‘due to the high viral load affecting most people, only 10% of infected Viennese manage to test out of quarantine on day 5—or: 90% still test positive. Only 30% of all who test positive manage to test themselves out by day 10—or: 70% don’t. Yet, according to federal recommendations, all of these 70% would have to go to work.’

Q: wait a second—this sounds…odd. Please explain this.

I’m glad you mention your confusion. You see: the lunacy knows no bounds: instituting (or keeping) the mandates ‘needlessly extend’ the Omicron wave, but the viral loads are allegedly so high that less than a third of all infected manage to test themselves out before the quarantine ends.

In other words: either the quarantine is way too long, because these rules ‘needlessly extend’ the infection wave—or the quarantine is too short because 70% of all infected still test positive after 10 days.

Mr. Hacker, which of these two is it?

Q: o.k. Sounds stupid. How does this work in practice?

Both my (triple-injected) parents tested positive a couple of weeks ago, and while they had very mild symptoms and are fine now, it’s a testament to the ‘efficacy’ (if you’d like to call it that) of—in their cases BioNTech/Pfizer’s product—to affect the Omicron wave.

The weird aspect here is that they both reside in Vienna, and what the above media piece didn’t tell you is that you can test yourself out of quarantine on day 5, and that’s not only possible if your PCR test comes back negative. It is also possible if your PCR test comes back with a cycle threshold (CT) value of 30 or higher.

Q: wait, what?

You heard me: if your PCR test is positive but the CT value was higher than 30, you’re ‘free’ to go.

I’d propose, then, that all the PCR tests (which, in my opinion, were fraudulent to begin with) that were ever done and whose CT value exceeded 30 should be discounted. I, for one, wonder if ‘Covid-19’ would have even registered.

Q: what’s next? It’s 2 April, aren’t the mandates gone now?

The end of federally financed mass testing was to occur in early April, which of course means an end to any kind of ‘data’ that’s of any value (this isn’t meant to suggest the earlier data was flawless…). Here, again, the authorities delayed and obfuscated the issue, only publishing necessary regulations at the last minute. Fact is, ‘only’ five PCR tests and antigen rapid test per person and months are going to be ‘free’, and otherwise availability will be restricted to ‘vulnerable’ settings and individuals, as well as those who are symptomatically ill.

As always, there are technical problems with the linking of federal and state-run databases, the federal government declares that they are paying and not responsible for implementation, which is hilarious as the states also complain about the feds’ incompetence. Business as usual, albeit with severe restrictions on civil rights and freedoms. If you need any further proof, ORF reported that even the distribution of these 5+5 tests per person and month would be impossible and couldn’t be done via the federal electronic healthcare system in place for 20-odd years.

I’m certain that everyone is super-happy we built and financed that e-infrastructure in the first place. What is it good for? (Absolutely nothing, it appears.)

Q: sounds like incompetence built on irresponsibility resting on political grand-standing. What are the real-world consequences?

I’m glad you asked: staffing problems never went away, and while they weren’t as stupid as in certain US states (due to injection mandates), the media outlet Dossier reported recently that these problems are ubiquitous.

Healthcare workers are legally obliged to report dangerous situations that arise due to staffing shortages, which couldn’t be ameliorated by personal engagement. [Dossier] analysed 350 of such reports from 2018-2022…which revealed partially horrifying incidents: ‘It’s insane: during evening rounds patients ring for assistance continuously, and it’s impossible to figure out where to start because one is working alone. Patients are thirsty, cognitively impaired [patients] cry all night, many dying or those in palliative care want [need] someone to talk to—but there’s no time.’

Or take this other healthcare worker’s testimonials:

            We cannot even mobilise other staff because we’re so short on time.

Taking care of many recently-operated patients during a nightshift where I’m working alone very much borders on negligence [gefährliche Pflege]

Yet, as ORF reported, ‘these cries for help were “systematically ignored”. Hospitals in Lower and Upper Austria were forced to admit that no-one even collects these reports centrally, and the other states merely “dealt with them internally”. There is no public accountability; for instance, Vienna officially admitted to 85 such reports in 2020-21, but the [independent trade] Younion claims at least 195 such reports were filed.’

To summarise the situation, here’s Elisabeth Potzmann, Chairwoman of the Austrian Association of Healthcare and Nursing Professionals: ‘We have a management culture of the 1970s and 1980s. Leadership is based on coercion and manipulation. It’s simply not expected that anyone doesn’t toe the line.’

Q: this is horrible—are there any consequences?

Not yet, but I may close on the current state, as reported by ORF today:

‘Cases’ are down to a little over 19,000 positive tests (there were 40K+ last week), but there’s still 3,010 hospitalised patients with Covid-19, of whom 225 are in the ICUs. This is much more—almost by a magnitude, compared to Norway’s 345 Covid patients in week 11—than elsewhere. Note that Covidistan has a slightly higher injection uptake compared to Norway.

The government’s last-minute ‘management’ is increasingly criticised by physicians and their associations. It seems that, at long last, doctors are becoming more critical of the BS they are fed by the government for two years. We’ll see what comes next, but I can also see that doctors will return to their usual patience and ask for more BS before too long.

Injection uptake, while very much slowed down last week, is dropping even further. Lower Austria has reduced the number of ‘vaccination centres’ by more than 50%. This is a good sign, however temporary it may be. I suspect (fear) pressure to ramp up before too long, at the latest in anticipation of the autumn/winter troubles ahead.

Q: final question: speaking of the road ahead—any guesses?

A picture says more than a thousand words:

Caption reads: Virologist van Laer demands 1G in restaurants.

3G doesn’t ‘make sense’ right now, the Innsbruck-based virologist says. Only tested individuals may be allowed to go out and patronise restaurants.

There you have it: government may mandate a fourth injection, or a ‘flurona’ injection, but if Ms. Van Laer, a notorious mandate hawk and prominent government advisor, has her way, it won’t bring back any of your freedoms.

Only ‘tested’ people may gain access, which should provide first-term law students with enough legal arguments to challenge any injection mandate. And second-term law students may subsequently use the faulty PCR test materials to destroy the testing system.

IF only the courts worked…