6,000 infections: How Austria's courts are facing fallout from Covid spread in ski resorts
The last time Sieglinde Schopf hugged Hannes, her husband of almost 50 years, was before he boarded a train to go skiing in Austria's popular Alpine province of Tyrol last March.
A few weeks later, in April, the 72-year-old, infected with coronavirus, died alone, hooked up to a hospital bed.
"My entire world shattered into pieces," says Schopf, who had convinced her husband to go to Ischgl, which ended up becoming one of Europe's coronavirus hotspots last year.
"I can't forgive myself, because in the end, I sent him to his death."
READ MORE: Post-ski partying dropped at Austrian resort at centre of pandemic
Plaintiffs seek compensation over coronavirus outbreak
Now a year later, hers is one of 10 lawsuits filed by plaintiffs from Austria and Germany who seek compensation, alleging that Austrian authorities failed to respond quickly enough to coronavirus outbreaks in Ischgl and other resorts.
More than 6,000 people from 45 countries claim they got infected -- the majority of them in Ischgl -- where unwitting tourists continued to ski, drink and party, while the virus was spreading, according to Austrian consumer rights association VSV, which is collecting the complaints.
Tourists were evacuated on 'crammed bus' filled with people 'coughing and sneezing'
Schopf believes that her husband, a retired journalist and avid skier since his childhood, caught the virus during the panicked evacuation by bus, crammed with other tourists who were sneezing and coughing for three hours.
When the Austrian called her husband on March 13th to tell him that Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had just announced a quarantine for Ischgl, "they were still on the ski slopes," she told AFP.
The widow is now suing the Republic of Austria for 100,000 euros over her husband's death.
Others are seeking tens of thousands of euros in compensation over contracting the virus in the ski resorts.
Cases heard in September
The cases are expected to be heard from September with initial April trial dates postponed due to the latest Covid-19 lockdown, according to VSV.
Other lawsuits are also in the pipeline, including by plaintiffs from Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and Switzerland, VSV head Peter Kolba told AFP. "It's a very broad spectrum, from deaths to cases of long Covid" with permanent lung damage, he said. In total, 32 people have died.
Local officials 'acted too late' according to report
An independent commission of experts tasked with investigating the outbreak wrote in its report published in October that local officials "reacted too late" and made "serious miscalculations" after authorities in Iceland alerted
them on March 5th that several people tested positive upon returning to the island state.
READ MORE: Austria's Ischgl ski resort 'mishandled coronavirus outbreak'
From March 8th, the day after a barkeeper in Ischgl tested positive for Covid-19, "a correct assessment should have led to the closing of bars, the stopping of ski lifts and orderly management of departures" of tourists from
Ischgl, the report said.
Instead, skiing and partying continued until March 13th.
Authorities have denied that they acted too slowly. However, four officials, including Ischgl's Mayor Werner Kurz, are under investigation by the public prosecutor's office in Innsbruck in relation to the outbreak.
READ MORE: Austria: Ischgl residents show long-term coronavirus immunity
Lesson 'learned'
Restoring Ischgl's reputation has since been paramount to Andreas Steibl, the head of the local tourism association, which the independent investigation absolved of blame over last year's outbreak.
"For us, the number one priority now is health, because we have learned from last year's experience," she told AFP.
'Practically no cases' of Covid-19 in Ischgl since the lockdown in 2020
An official with the regional health authority confirmed that Ischgl had "practically no cases" of Covid-19 since the lockdown a year ago.
With the winter season lost to the pandemic, the village of some 1,500 inhabitants which lives almost entirely off tourism hopes to fill its hotels and restaurants over the upcoming summer.
Last year, tourists from across Europe already flocked to the Austrian Alps .
One couple in their 80s, the Kaisers, who travelled by tour bus from Leipzig, Germany, last July, recounted how their friends had called them "crazy" for booking their summer vacation in Ischgl.
But Manfred Kaiser, 84, said they felt especially safe in Ischgl because "everyone here is careful now".
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A few weeks later, in April, the 72-year-old, infected with coronavirus, died alone, hooked up to a hospital bed.
"My entire world shattered into pieces," says Schopf, who had convinced her husband to go to Ischgl, which ended up becoming one of Europe's coronavirus hotspots last year.
"I can't forgive myself, because in the end, I sent him to his death."
READ MORE: Post-ski partying dropped at Austrian resort at centre of pandemic
Plaintiffs seek compensation over coronavirus outbreak
Now a year later, hers is one of 10 lawsuits filed by plaintiffs from Austria and Germany who seek compensation, alleging that Austrian authorities failed to respond quickly enough to coronavirus outbreaks in Ischgl and other resorts.
More than 6,000 people from 45 countries claim they got infected -- the majority of them in Ischgl -- where unwitting tourists continued to ski, drink and party, while the virus was spreading, according to Austrian consumer rights association VSV, which is collecting the complaints.
Tourists were evacuated on 'crammed bus' filled with people 'coughing and sneezing'
Schopf believes that her husband, a retired journalist and avid skier since his childhood, caught the virus during the panicked evacuation by bus, crammed with other tourists who were sneezing and coughing for three hours.
When the Austrian called her husband on March 13th to tell him that Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had just announced a quarantine for Ischgl, "they were still on the ski slopes," she told AFP.
The widow is now suing the Republic of Austria for 100,000 euros over her husband's death.
Others are seeking tens of thousands of euros in compensation over contracting the virus in the ski resorts.
Cases heard in September
The cases are expected to be heard from September with initial April trial dates postponed due to the latest Covid-19 lockdown, according to VSV.
Other lawsuits are also in the pipeline, including by plaintiffs from Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and Switzerland, VSV head Peter Kolba told AFP. "It's a very broad spectrum, from deaths to cases of long Covid" with permanent lung damage, he said. In total, 32 people have died.
Local officials 'acted too late' according to report
An independent commission of experts tasked with investigating the outbreak wrote in its report published in October that local officials "reacted too late" and made "serious miscalculations" after authorities in Iceland alerted
them on March 5th that several people tested positive upon returning to the island state.
READ MORE: Austria's Ischgl ski resort 'mishandled coronavirus outbreak'
From March 8th, the day after a barkeeper in Ischgl tested positive for Covid-19, "a correct assessment should have led to the closing of bars, the stopping of ski lifts and orderly management of departures" of tourists from
Ischgl, the report said.
Instead, skiing and partying continued until March 13th.
Authorities have denied that they acted too slowly. However, four officials, including Ischgl's Mayor Werner Kurz, are under investigation by the public prosecutor's office in Innsbruck in relation to the outbreak.
READ MORE: Austria: Ischgl residents show long-term coronavirus immunity
Lesson 'learned'
Restoring Ischgl's reputation has since been paramount to Andreas Steibl, the head of the local tourism association, which the independent investigation absolved of blame over last year's outbreak.
"For us, the number one priority now is health, because we have learned from last year's experience," she told AFP.
'Practically no cases' of Covid-19 in Ischgl since the lockdown in 2020
An official with the regional health authority confirmed that Ischgl had "practically no cases" of Covid-19 since the lockdown a year ago.
With the winter season lost to the pandemic, the village of some 1,500 inhabitants which lives almost entirely off tourism hopes to fill its hotels and restaurants over the upcoming summer.
Last year, tourists from across Europe already flocked to the Austrian Alps .
One couple in their 80s, the Kaisers, who travelled by tour bus from Leipzig, Germany, last July, recounted how their friends had called them "crazy" for booking their summer vacation in Ischgl.
But Manfred Kaiser, 84, said they felt especially safe in Ischgl because "everyone here is careful now".
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