Tens of lawsuits have been brought in a Vienna court on Friday against Austria due to an outbreak of the Coronavirus in Ischgl skiing resort.
The infection spread happened in early 2020 when the virus spread increased substantially in crowded restaurants.
The outbreak, namely “The Ibiza of the Alps”, was Austria’s biggest infection spread and has increased infection rates across Europe.
A great number of Austrians and foreign tourists, mainly from Germany, have caught the virus.
The first case against Ischgl was on March 7, several days after Iceland’s announcement that tourists have caught infections there.
This is also 11 days after the first infection in Austria and since then the public health agency said it believes the virus arrived in Ischgl far earlier, in February.
The widow and son of a 72-year-old man brought the case to court. The man died of Covid19 after a vacation there from March 6 to March 13.
Moreover, they are aiming for around 100,000 euros in damages.
The private Consumer Protection Association (VSV) accused Austria of failure since it places blame on all the state authorities.
Authorities in the Tyrol province say they responded according to the available information at the time.
However, Austria’s lawyers did not have any comments at the court.
The accusers said the authorities’ reaction was too slow and inappropriate, including the immediate quarantine announcement that Chancellor Sebastian Kurz made, which caused chaos.
“What happened was a hurried, chaotic departure of thousands … of holidaymakers,” Alexander Klauser’s lawyers said.
“Some of them were still on the slopes when they heard of the chancellor’s announcement,” the lawyer continued.
“People ran to their cars while still wearing ski boots.”