In order to avoid a third lockdown, the government could rely on “senior opening hours” for Christmas shopping.
Even during the first lockdown, several supermarkets in Austria offered so-called “senior opening times”. Now the FPÖ is taking up this idea again. In order to enable even better corona protection, party leader Norbert Hofer suggests that the government split up the customer groups after the trade lockdown: “People over 60 go shopping in the morning, all other customers in the afternoon.”
Among other things, Billa, Lidl and Merkur appealed to their customers in the spring to keep the market open between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. for senior citizens and other risk groups in order to enable them to shop more relaxed. The supermarket chain Spar found that it would be better if older people could stay at home and get help with shopping.
Experts and doctors warn that after the lockdown, new corona infections could rise again immediately, for example through overcrowded shopping centers. You speak of a yo-yo effect. “If the trade does not reopen until December 7th, we will again experience scenes like the last two days before the lockdown. We must absolutely avoid these peaks,” said Hofer.
