Thread by @DrEricDing

Listen up folks—we need to talk about Austria 🇦🇹 & what they are doing.

COMPLETE MESS FROM ACTING TOO LATE—now scrambling to compensate for late boosters & against anti-vaxxers. 🇦🇹 now adding lockdown & Europe’s first full vaccine mandate…🧵👇 #COVID19
cnn.com/2021/11/19/eur…

2) From Austria 🇦🇹 govt press conference just hours ago (translated by @j0hnhaas):

+++ Today gov't issued 20-day lockdown effective from 22nd of Nov. on +++ 15,809 new cases on the 19th of Nov. mark historical peak

3) +++ Gov't announces mandatory vaccination for the general population (age: 14+) effective on the 1st of Feb. 2022 +++ 7-day incidence for the country is 1,049 +++ Age group of 5-14 year olds have 7-day incidence of 1,800

4) +++ 10 year olds in the county of Salzburg have an incidence of about 5,000 +++ Schools remain open, but Gov't recommends to leave children at home +++ Vaccination for under 14 years olds is "off label" at the moment as health agency has not decided on a recommendation

5) +++ From 13th of December on, there will be a an ongoing lockdown for unvaccinated individuals +++ Official case reporting system close to technical failure due to excessive testing!!! ⚠️

(What a mess!)

6) +++ Home office recommended by Gov't but not mandatory +++ FFP2 mask (KN95 grade) now mandatory inside of all public buildings

7) This is Austria COVID caseload surge right now. It’s even higher than other wealthy European countries.

8) Was Austria 🇦🇹 late on boosters? Yes, like most of the rest of Europe. But Iceland and UK 🇬🇧 are ahead. Israel leading the pack for boosters. And its paying off big time for Israel. ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-…

9) Israel got ahead of the booster race against the virus. It is now having zero COVID deaths for 3 days this past week—that is return on investment!!!

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1461401722971045891

10) pick a booster. Switch it up. But just get a booster. Please. See thread 🧵 for details 👇

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1451418802416197633

11) Don’t end up being stuck with lockdown like Austria—nobody likes it - but the way to avoid them is with mandatory mask, mass testing, and boosters ALTOGETHER not just one at a time. And don’t end up like Germany either with Christmas market cancelled in Munich and Nuremberg.

https://twitter.com/kniggem/status/1461687483775827972

12) UPDATE— Austria 🇦🇹 is expanding and rushing booster now — the time gap for Boosters has been reduced from 6 months to 4 months since 2nd shot as of last week.

Meanwhile the FDA today is still requiring 6 months. This is a mistake. Waning definitely begins at 4 months.