The doctor cited late warnings from the health authorities and the government as reasons for the fact that celebrations had been carefree in New Orleans despite the Corona crisis. Although the virus reached the United States long ago on February 25, the last day of the Mardi Gras move, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned caution later.
Louisiana declared a disaster area.
The White House now agreed to declare Louisiana the fifth American state to be a disaster area. In addition, President Donald Trump had three stations set up in New Orleans where residents can be tested for the coronavirus.
As every fourth inhabitant of the city lives below the poverty line and many families share small apartments, experts fear a further drastic increase in the number of cases in the coming days and weeks. Governor Edwards estimates that the state’s hospitals will then be congested by April 4 at the latest.
4. Hotspot Ischgl: “Grass over the cause”
If what an English patient told the newspaper “Telegraph” is true, then the corona party in Ischgl could have lasted not only for days but for a few weeks. The man from Sussex suffered from what he said was severe flu in mid-January after a holiday in the Tyrolean ski resort. His family of four was also infected. Less than two months later, there were reports of Ischgl as a focus for Covid-19. The Briton added up one and one, especially since he was also in the apres-ski bar “Kitzloch”, which became known because there was a waiter tested positive on March 7, but the bar – after a change of staff – only days was later locked up.
This would mean that the virus would have appeared much earlier in Great Britain and especially in Austria than previously known. So far there has been talk of a first patient on the island at the end of January, in Austria the first case of corona was documented on February 25th. It is certain that a travel group from Iceland returned from Ischgl to their home in late February, where several members contracted Covid-19. Iceland then declared Tyrol a risk area on March 5. The apres-ski bars remained open for another five days, the slopes until March 15th.
Vacationers sent home without checking
The fact that regional leaders were aware of the explosiveness is shown by the text message sent by a politician from the OVP government party to the innkeeper of the “Kitzloch”: the innkeeper should close quickly until “grass grows over the cause”: “when a camera sees the business we Tyroleans are there like a Hottentot state, ”wrote the politician, who is also a representative of the cable car operators, on March 9th. At this point, he apparently still hoped that the season could be saved.
All of Tyrol is now subject to exit restrictions, which are at least formally more stringent than in the rest of Austria. Ski resorts such as Ischgl and St. Anton were almost completely isolated. Other breakdowns happened, among other things, holidaymakers were sent away without ensuring that they could travel straight home. A few hundred apparently took up quarters elsewhere and presumably carried the virus even further.
On Friday, the entire insulation was extended to Easter Monday by order of Governor Gunther Platter (OVP). The staff, who had to stay in the sealed-off places and to which many Britons belong, were only allowed to leave under certain conditions. On the one hand, both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health would have to give their consent. On the other hand, the home state of the employees had to approach the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and “create a set of rules here, under which conditions the employees can go home and how the transport takes place”.
