Drastic omicron precautions in Austria: energy giant encapsulates 50 employees from the outside world

Created: 12/31/2021, 06:24 AM

From: Felix Durach

A cordon in the Spittelau location of the energy company Wien Energie separates the isolated employees from the outside world.

© Wien Energie / Wiener Stadtwerke

An Austrian energy company sends 50 employees in isolation.

The aim is to ensure the basic supply in an impending omicron wave.

Vienna - The omicron variant of the coronavirus could soon be the dominant virus variant in large parts of Europe.

In Great Britain, among other places, the highly contagious mutation is already responsible for the majority of new corona infections.

In countries like Germany, a similar development threatens in the coming days and weeks.

Since the Omikron variant is significantly more contagious than the previous delta mutation of the coronavirus, experts are also worried about the collapse of the critical infrastructure in an impending fifth wave.

Austria: Energy giant sends 50 employees in isolation - to secure basic supplies

If a large number of employees were to be infected with Omikron in a very short time, normal operations could no longer be ensured everywhere. This scenario would be particularly devastating in critical infrastructure such as energy supply or healthcare. However, since a fifth wave can no longer be prevented in the opinion of many experts, these industries must now prepare for an emergency.

The Austrian energy company Wien Energie is now showing how this can be done.

The company presented plans on Thursday morning to ensure the energy supply in an Omikron wave.

"Safety first: 50 employees are preparing for isolation from January 7th," announced the group via the short message service Twitter.

"As an energy provider, we mustn't risk any failures, so we are currently preparing for renewed isolation."

Omikron: Energy company isolates 50 employees - measure is "far-reaching, but necessary"

Austria's largest energy supplier will distribute the employees to four locations, where they should then go about their work isolated from the outside world. A power plant and three waste incineration plants are to be operated in this way. The employees would then have beds, kitchen facilities as well as laundry and leisure rooms available on site. In addition, the group stated that the isolated will receive work psychological care. However, 22 of the 50 employees are already familiar with the situation from previous waves of the corona pandemic.

 "This step is far-reaching, but necessary in order to be able to guarantee security of supply under all circumstances," said the chairman of the management board, Michael Strebl, on the group's website.

The 7-day incidence in Austria is currently only 188.5, but is rising again after a downward trend for weeks.