Children 10 years of age and older must be tested, including the immunity status of parents or guardians. The quarantine obligation applies in principle also to children, but is not applicable if the parents or guardians are exempt from quarantine.
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This is already more than just a silver lining for all boat and yacht owners and in general for all Croatia tourists who are looking forward to their Whitsun vacation: With the new measures that Austria is expected to introduce from May 19, the three “G”, i.e. tested, vaccinated and recovered persons, will probably soon be able to enter Austria again without quarantine if they have previously stayed in Croatia, Italy or Slovenia and these countries are not classified as high incidence areas on the EU/ECDC “green list”. Currently (12/5/21), the 14-day incidence for Croatia is 473.5 with a strong downward trend, for Italy 234.1, and for Slovenia 426.5.
Germany: quarantine still a state matter
For Germany, the default is still for the individual states to decide independently on their respective entry and quarantine requirements when returning from vacation abroad from Corona risk areas, high incidence areas, and virus variant areas, but the editorial board anticipates possible changes before Pentecost following discussions with the relevant agencies in Germany at the state level.
Tourism Ministry Austria: new regulations from May 19
In a conversation with a spokesman for the Austrian Ministry of Health, they said that in the long term Austria wants to follow the EU assessment and thus the ECDC data, which takes into account both the 14-day incidence and the number of people tested positive for the Corona virus in relation to the total number of people tested for the Corona virus, as Daniel Kosak, press spokesman and deputy head of cabinet at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism told SeaHelp editors in response to a written request. An own weighting, which countries rank in the future to the plant A states, flows on the basis the 14-daily situation evaluation taking place in Austria also into the decision making like also emerging trends over the future development. However, there is no general algorithm for the classification, it added.
Planned measures in Austria for Austrian vacationers and travelers returning from vacation
Here is the statement of the Ministry of Tourism on the relevant points for entry into Austria, including the quarantine regime:.
Together with the opening steps, there is also an adjustment of the COVID-19 entry regulation. Below are the respective categories of the Ministry of Health for the future entry regulations. The basis for the decision between safe EU/EEA states and high-incidence states within the EU/EEA is the corresponding classification according to the ECDC map.
Category 1: Provisions for low incidence states and territories.
- Low-incidence states and territories are listed in an annex to the COVID-19 entry regulation. These are all EU/EEA countries if not on any other annex, as well as other safe (in the sense of low incidence) third countries.
- Persons may enter from these states and territories under the following conditions: Proof of a negative test, vaccination or recovery – in German or English.
Category 2: Provisions for high incidence states or territories.
- High-incidence states or territories are also specifically listed in an appendix to the entry regulation.
- Persons may enter from these states and territories under the following conditions: Proof of vaccination or recovery – in German or English. If no proof of vaccination or recovery can be shown, a negative test result must be carried and furthermore a ten-day quarantine must be entered immediately. The quarantine is considered terminated if a PCR or antigen test is performed no earlier than the fifth day after entry and the test result is negative.
The entry regulation is currently still being drafted and should be available in the next few days.
Basis for the distinction between safe EU/EEA countries (these are together with safe third countries on Annex A) and high-incidence EU/EEA countries (these are on Annex B1) is based on the ECDC assessment. Several parameters (test rate, incidence, positivity rate, variant incidence, etc.) are included. These collected considerations form the basis for the categorization of states in Appendix A.
Category 1 = Appendix A.
- Annex A includes safe EU/EEA states (Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein) + equivalent third countries (eg New Zealand, Australia, South Korea)
Category 2 = Annex B1 + remaining third countries (= all that do not appear in Annex A or Annex B2).
- Annex B1 lists all highly incumbent EU/EEA states (currently e.g. Croatia) + non-equivalent third countries (e.g. Botswana, Peru, Thailand)
Furthermore, the registration requirement upon entry (pre-travel clearance) will remain in place for all.
Incidence figures in Croatia only one parameter
It was further said that a partial travel warning for Croatia, which also takes into account the incidence figures of the individual counties, should not take place, because it is not possible to ensure where the Croatia tourists have actually stayed on vacation. The only sticking point: when a region such as Croatia is downgraded from a high-incidence area to a risk area is something the Ministry of Tourism is unwilling to specify. Daniel Kosak: “Unfortunately, we cannot comment on specific values. The responsible Ministry of Health examines the states on the basis of several parameters. The incidence value is one of them.”
European Green Certificate – Green Passport – is to come
At the same time one sets in the future also strengthened already now on the “European Green Certificate” thus the green passport, which is to make within the European Union free travel possible again. You will receive a QR code on your cell phone, which will provide information to inspectors about your status, i.e. whether you have been vaccinated, recovered or tested. If there are delays in implementing the green passport into the pan-European system, Austria will first conclude agreements on a bilateral level in the future, he said.
Austria involved in test phase for “green passport”
Interesting against this background: already on May 10, the test phase regarding the functionality of the green passport, which will last until May 21, has begun, in which Austria is also participating in order to gather initial experience with it. However, it is probably better to rely on bilateral agreements here, because the usual “data protection hick-hack” will probably still heavily confuse the schedule.
Development as in 2020: new infections in Croatia drop in early summer
By the way, one interesting fact cannot be dismissed: If you superimpose the curves of the development of the Croatian incidence figures of the previous year, i.e. 2020, and the incidence figures of 2021, you will find surprisingly many similarities in the early season, which ultimately point to a Corona-safe summer for boat and yacht owners, but also other tourists. Also in the previous year the incidence values at the Adriatic Sea decreased strongly after Easter, whether UV rays or the better distribution of aerosols during the stay in the open air were responsible for it, probably only the scientists will be able to answer retrospectively.
