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Austria resort ‘downplayed’ Covid risk documents show

Official communications and minutes of meetings seen by AFP suggest authorities in the Austrian state of Tyrol downplayed a notorious coronavirus outbreak in one of its ski resorts in March.

Austria resort 'downplayed' Covid risk documents show
An apres-ski bar in Ischgl after it was closed in March. Photo: Jakob Gruber / APA / AFP
Ischgl, known for its lively apres-ski scene, was at the centre of an outbreak of the coronavirus in Tyrol in which more than 6,000 tourists from 45 countries say they became infected.
   
State officials have repeatedly said that no mistakes were made in handling the outbreak in Ischgl, one of Austria's most lucrative and prestigious ski resorts, and that authorities acted correctly according to the information they had at the time.
   
The public prosecutor's department in Tyrol is investigating the events at the resort and has declined to comment publicly on the probe.
   
However, AFP has seen documents regarding the outbreak which run to thousands of pages of messages and emails between officials as well as minutes of meetings.
 
   
One of the most damning passages concerns Ischgl's Kitzloch bar. On March 7, a bartender there tested positive for the virus, making him the first case to be confirmed at the resort.
   
The next morning, Anita Luckner-Hornischer, an official with the Tyrol medical authority, is quoted in the minutes of the state's crisis management team as saying: “Probably we can expect many cases in connection with the bar.”
   
However, just hours afterwards the state of Tyrol sent out a press release with a different message through its public relations department, which had taken over all of the state's communications relating to the virus.
   
“A transmission of the virus onto the guests of the bar is, from a medical point of view, rather unlikely,” Luckner-Hornischer is quoted as saying in the press release.
   
As in other apres-ski bars in the tiny Alpine village where about 10,000 tourists were staying at the time, Kitzloch was so crammed that staff blew whistles to make their way through the crowds, passing tourists playing games in which they spat ping pong balls out of their mouths into other guests' drinks.
   
The bar was only closed once all Kitzloch staff had tested positive for the virus, but elsewhere in the village, thousands of unwitting tourists continued skiing and partying.
 
 
'Keep a low profile'
 
Also in early March, Icelandic medical authorities had been the first to warn their Austrian counterparts of an outbreak, pointing to more than a dozen tourists who tested positive for the coronavirus upon their return from skiing
and partying in Ischgl.
   
The documents seen by AFP show that local officials seized on comments made by two of the tourists who said they could possibly have contracted the virus on their flight back to Iceland.
   
In one email to a senior Tyrol state official, district chief Markus Maass said that the statement by the two tourists “would be important for the press release by the public relations department if applicable”.
   
“With that, we'd get Ischgl out of the line of fire,” Maass wrote.
   
An official press release from the state government on March 5 was indeed entitled: “Icelandic guests in the Tyrol Oberland region most likely contracted coronavirus on their return flight”.
   
Further material in the documents show how concerned officials were about the virus's impact on Tyrol's reputation.
   
Another email written after the first warnings from Icelandic authorities shows Maass's reaction to officials sharing information about infections elsewhere in the state.
   
“We're trying to keep a low profile,” Maass writes in the message to the state government.
   
Once the number of confirmed cases in Ischgl began to rise dramatically, the federal government announced a full lockdown of the entire valley, leaving tourists just a couple of hours to evacuate on March 13 — six days after the Kitzloch bartender tested positive.
   
The documents seen by AFP include official letters informing four individuals, including Maass and Ischgl's mayor Werner Kurz, that they are being investigated for wilfully or negligently endangering people through a contagious disease.
   
Asked about the latest revelations, the Tyrol state government refused to comment to Austrian media on Friday.
   
Four individuals also brought civil suits in Vienna over the outbreak last month, including the family of a man who died from Covid-19, which he allegedly contracted in Ischgl.

SKI

INTERVIEW: Swedish doctor on the state of the coronavirus in ski resorts

Sweden's government has decided to leave its ski resorts open during the current 'sports holiday', despite concerns that this could lead to rising infections. The Local spoke to Anders Lindblom, the infectious disease doctor in Dalarna, about how it is going in the region's ski resorts.

INTERVIEW: Swedish doctor on the state of the coronavirus in ski resorts
The Lindvallen ski resort in Sälen is busy this week. Photo: Gustaf Månsson/SvD/TT

The annual 'sportlov' school break kicked off last week and will run through the first two weeks of March, with the exact week varying depending on where in Sweden you live. In a normal year, a lot of families use this break to go skiing in the Swedish mountains. At the time of writing, the ski resorts remain open, but the Public Health Agency has issued guidelines on how to travel safely – although some regions advise against travelling at all.

What's the current situation in Dalarna [a region in central Sweden and home to popular ski resort Sälen]?

We don't have the highest incidence in Sweden. The cases have been increasing a little bit over the last three weeks from a relatively low level, but the travel obviously makes it difficult to foresee what's coming. So I'm a little bit worried about what's going to happen.

What are your worries?

I hope it won't happen, but if the cases increase in the ski resorts, they're going to take their disease back to their home counties, and if we see a lot of increase in those counties, it could mean more patients in hospital.

We're in the second week of the 'sport holiday', how has it been going so far?

It's going fairly well. We had a meeting with the Public Health Agency and the regional government today. In the ski resorts in Dalarna, they are following the rules pretty well, but when they go shopping on the way to the ski resorts, it gets crowded in the shops and in the petrol stations on the way up.

So what are you going to do about this? Are you going to recommend that people shop before they travel up?

We've done that before, but we're going to repeat that message again. We're going to repeat it in Dalarna, and also the Public Health Agency is going to issue it as a national recommendation.

What will it take for the sport holiday not to lead to a surge in infections?

It's very important that people follow the rules in the ski resorts, to keep their distance and avoid crowded areas, especially indoors.

I don't think the problem is outside. If you're outside, the risk of spreading the disease is minimal. The high risk is crowded places indoors – shops and restaurants – and so far, it's not crowded in the restaurants, and the ski lounges are closed during the day.

If you just stay with your family or your travel companions when you're indoors, it's not that risky. It's when you have parties with other people, and mix with other people, that there's a problem. Then it can spread from one travelling company to another.

If a family go up there, get sick, take a test and go home, that's not going to spread the disease.

Anders Lindblom is the infectious diseases doctor for Dalarna. Photo: Region Dalarna

If you had been able to decide, would you have wanted the ski resorts to close?

I can't decide myself whether people can travel. If the government and the Public Health Agency allow travelling, what I can do is make it as safe as possible for people to be in the ski resorts.

So I'm having a lot of discussions with the companies up there, at the lifts, and at the hotels, and at the shops, so that not too many people go in there, that they can rent skis outdoors, and to make sure that the restaurants follow the rules.

As far as we see right now, the spread of Covid-19 is not that extensive. But I think there's a risk that people don't follow the rules.

How are you getting the message out so far?

From the ski resorts, when people are booking their trip there, or the hotel or a cabin, they get the message from the vendors, and we repeat the message whenever we get interviewed, and I think the Public Health Agency are going to repeat the message when they speak to the media on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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People skiing in Sälen on Tuesday. Photo: Gustaf Månsson/SvD/TT

A cluster of the variant first discovered in South Africa has been found in Sälen. Is there a risk the resort could become a centre point for growth of that particular variant?

We saw some spread among the inhabitants in Sälen, but that is going down. We don't know about the tourists.

What could it mean for the spread of that particular variant? If there's so many people coming in and out of the resort, is there a risk that it could really get established?

I think it's already established. The risk is that it's going to spread around Sweden. That's the problem, and it could be that when people from Dalarna go on their spring vacation, they can get affected and spread it when they come home as well.

What's coming next? Are there new recommendations on the way?

We discussed the situation with the Public Health Agency on Friday, and we did it yesterday [Monday] and today [Tuesday] as well. They are going to talk to the government, and see what they should do. 

I think they're going to tighten up the restrictions that we already have, that's for sure. I'm not sure if they're going to make any new restrictions.

When do you expect the new restrictions?

The Public Health Agency has told us that it is going to be this week.

What other actions have you taken? 

We have a lot of test stations in the ski resorts, so you can go there and get tested every day. I think we have four test stations. What we are advising people to do is, if you get sick, get a test, and stay home until you get a result. If it's positive, then then you should go home.

So I suppose the big test will be when Stockholm has its sport holiday next week?

We had Gothenburg last week, and we have Skåne this week. There have been a lot of people in the ski resorts this week and last week, but maybe it's going to be more people next week.

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