Bernhard Zangerl, operator of the “Kitzloch” in Ischgl, looks bent. If the current situation around the coronavirus wasn’t bad enough for all representatives from tourism, gastronomy and the hotel industry, he has been confronted with an additional challenge since Monday: His company has been in the public pillory for the second time since the outbreak of the corona crisis – and that without him or his staff doing anything “wrong”.
The authorities also confirm this in a current situation report on the corona infection of one of his service employees, which made headlines on Monday. This happened because the state of Tyrol launched a public appeal at the beginning of the week “as a precaution and to be on the safe side”: People who were also there on December 23rd and / or 24th were – as usual in these cases – asked to take one as a precaution Perform a PCR test.
Why, after the infection of this individual – apart from the waiter, nobody in the restaurant has tested positive for the virus so far – is not trusted in contact tracing, but instead a public appeal from the country was launched, is incomprehensible to Zangerl: “That’s just because of that Name ‘Kitzloch’, there are positive cases everywhere. But there is no other company where this is advertised publicly. ” Tracking would be possible thanks to lists. “For us there is no reason for that”. Zangerl spoke of damage to the company. In the “Kitzloch” you stick to the rules – “otherwise we would have a cluster”. The affected employee is the only one who tested positive.
This is now also confirmed by the police surveys that were carried out on the spot in coordination with the health authorities: the “Austria-wide legal provisions” had been complied with in full, it said. It remains to be seen whether there was any infection in the restaurant’s streets, but not a single other case is known to date. And further tests to determine the coronavirus variant with which the waiter was infected have also shown that it is not based on the Omikron coronavirus variant.
“Much Ado About Nothing”, then? This will be shown by the evaluation of the guest tests. But one thing is certain – for Zangerl, and also for some readers of the countless media reports about the involuntary “Corona scapegoat” in Ischgl. On Monday, for example, Josef Kalina tweeted what many were thinking: “Maybe they should think about a name change there soon”.
