WKO President Mahrer commented in the Ö1 morning journal about the “entry tests” after the lockdown and about an FFP2 mask requirement in retail.
A bill on the “purest” is to be passed in the National Council today, Thursday. The amendment is intended to enable corona tests as an access requirement and mandatory professional groups. The corona tests can be prescribed by ordinance for cultural and sporting events, tourism and gastronomy, among other things – trade is excluded from “pure testing”.
The test as a “ticket” for hotels, events and apparently also for the restaurant – anything better than a lockdown, according to the Chamber of Commerce's motto. But what exactly is in store for the catering industry after the lockdown? “We cannot say that at the moment, because nobody really knows what to do if you look at the back and forth negotiations,” said Chamber of Commerce President Harald Mahrer on Thursday in the Ö1 morning journal.
And further: “But it is long overdue that there is a comprehensive test strategy. We have long called for regular testing. We have to test more to filter out the super spreaders. This is an important tool in combating the pandemic and so we don't need a lockdown anymore. ” According to Mahrer, one would also like to have more clarity for entrepreneurs, employees and citizens in the country. The ability to plan is after all the “all around”.
The government was still involved in the preliminary talks, but “the three parties have now logically discussed this among themselves in parliament”. As a social partner, however, you would have already said what you would like to see. The corona tests are to be used more widely, “because people want to go back to work and Austria now needs some breathing space again”.
But what exactly does it look like in gastronomy? “I'm not a magician who can look into the crystal ball. It is now crucial that people get planning security and we deserve that,” Mahrer clarified in the Ö1 morning journal. The population has been fighting their way through the crisis for months and Mahrer would like more “professionalism”.
However, the restaurants and bars had already shown in the spring that strict conditions (distance, smaller groups) could be dealt with and this had also “been successfully implemented and there were no large clusters”, said Mahrer. But if people sit longer and closer together, then of course there is a problem there.
According to the WKO President, one must carefully weigh up “what is feasible and what makes sense”. Because: “We have to get out of the lockdown again,” said Mahrer in the Ö1 morning journal, who can also imagine an FFP2 mask requirement in retail – such as in Bavaria. “That was our suggestion before Christmas. We want to reopen the trade and customers want to go shopping again,” Mahrer clarified. FFP2 masks for customers and employees could well be a solution.
And what does the President of the Chamber of Commerce think of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plan to extend the lockdown until Easter? “That would be the biggest job destruction machine since the Second World War,” said Mahrer. A lockdown until Easter would be “mood-wise and economically” unsustainable. “We have to open up,” clarifies Mahrer. After all, you have to find out whether “our new tools also work.”
