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COVID-19 RULES

Vienna to drop Covid face mask mandate by end of February

The Austrian capital Vienna will no longer require people to wear face masks on public transport after its Covid-19 decree expires at the end of February. Here's everything else that is changing.

Vienna to drop Covid face mask mandate by end of February
Commuters wear FFP2 protective face masks while leaving a train at the Westbahnhof underground station in Vienna on January 25, 2021, during the ongoing novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. (Photo by ALEX HALADA / AFP)

The FFP2 mask mandate currently in place in all Vienna public transport and its stations will fall on February 28th, the city’s mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ), said in a press conference on Wednesday.

“After considering all aspects and the epidemiological situation, the hospital situation and current model calculations, it is now justifiable not to extend the special corona regulations for Vienna after February”, the mayor said.

For several months, the Austrian capital has been the only province with a strict FFP2 mask mandate in public transport, as the city decided to keep stricter rules against the coronavirus pandemic. 

However, earlier this month, Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) announced that the country would drop all Covid restrictions by the end of June. Vienna could have kept its regulations until the end of July when the Covid Measures Act, which allowed provinces to opt for stricter guidelines, expires. 

The mayor also announced that other measures valid only in Vienna would expire by the end of February. The stricter rules for visitors in hospitals and elderly homes, who had to present a negative PCR test, will also fall. Additionally, employees at these establishments will no longer have to go through a weekly screening for Covid-19. 

READ ALSO: Austria to drop all Covid restrictions by the end of June

However, the obligation to wear masks in hospitals and nursing homes would end only on April 30th, as it is a federal determination.

“A special thank you goes to all employees in the health system. Mainly thanks to them, Vienna passed the test and prevented conditions like those in other countries”, Ludwig said.

According to the mayor, the goal now is to continue to expand the healthcare system and keep its high level. “In this way, everyone will continue to have the best possible medical care in the future”, he added.

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VIENNA

Why the statue of a controversial former Vienna mayor will be tilted

Rather than tear it down, or leave it untouched, an expert panel in Vienna has recommended tilting the statue of a controversial former mayor 3.5 degrees to the right.

Why the statue of a controversial former Vienna mayor will be tilted

Karl Lueger was an extremely popular Vienna mayor from 1897 to 1910. Yet, over a hundred years later, he remains a widely discussed figure in Austrian history due to his antisemitic views and politics. Now, an expert committee has proposed tilting his statue as a nod to his controversial legacy.

His time in office came during a Viennese golden age. Karl Lueger brought both fresh running water and gas to the Austrian capital for the first time. While he was mayor, the city saw the heyday of Austrian historical heavyweights like Gustav Mahler, Gustav Klimt, and Sigmund Freund. Under Lueger, the city built the public transport foundations Vienna is still known for today.

But he was also one of the most notorious antisemites in Austrian history. Historians widely agree that his rhetoric against Jewish people was a key inspiration for Adolf Hitler in the decades that followed. In Mein Kampf, Hitler described Lueger as “the most terrific German mayor of all time.”

Lueger is noted to have employed common antisemitic rhetoric to mobilise Vienna’s middle classes into blaming Jews for social problems. He called Jews “specialists in vile profits” and accused them of “expropriation of the indigenous population.”

In recent years, Vienna has struggled to deal with his controversial legacy. In 2012, the city renamed the “Karl Lueger Ring” road to “University Ring,” something the far-right Freedom Party called a “scandal” at the time. In 2021, at a time when crowds in Bristol toppled the statue of British slave trader Edward Colston, Vienna chose to leave Lueger’s four-metre-high bronze statue standing. He also still has a bridge and a square named in his honour.

Rather than tear it down, or leave it untouched, a city expert panel has recommended tilting Lueger’s statue 3.5 degrees to the right, as a way to “contextualize” his legacy.

“With racist rhetoric and populism, Karl Lueger made antisemitism a political program,” a tweet from the City of Vienna noted.

After convening an expert panel of artists and political experts, Vienna went with the tilting proposal from artist Klemens Wihlidal, noting that it would show how Austrian society was breaking away from uncritical praise of the former mayor.

City officials have so far not said precisely when the statue will be changed.

READ ALSO: REVEALED: Just how widespread is anti-Semitism in Austria?

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