This archive report was first published on 17 September 2021.
On September 17, 2021, a court in Vienna heard the first of 15 lawsuits filed by plaintiffs from Austria and Germany over the notorious coronavirus outbreak at a popular ski resort in Ischgl, Tyrol, last year.
The outbreak, which occurred in March 2020, affected thousands of people from 45 countries, with 32 people ultimately dying and many more suffering from long-term symptoms.
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of Sieglinde Schopf and her son Ulrich, widow and son of 72-year-old Hannes Schopf, who died after contracting the virus in Ischgl, alleges that local authorities failed to respond quickly enough to the outbreak.
Lawyer Alexander Klauser, representing the Schopf family and the VSV consumer organisation, stated that the official shortcomings that allowed Ischgl to become a virus hotspot were manifold, including a report by an independent commission of experts that found local officials had 'reacted too late' and made 'serious miscalculations' when alerted by Iceland on March 5, 2020.
According to Klauser, local officials had at least 48 hours to react after the warning, but they missed an opportunity to prevent more tourists from coming to the valley that weekend, and the regional government cast doubt on whether the Icelandic tourists had been infected in Ischgl.
The Schopf family is now suing the Republic of Austria for 100,000 euros ($120,000) over Hannes Schopf's death, with Sieglinde Schopf saying her 'entire world shattered into pieces' after her husband's death.
Of the 6,000 people who claim to have contracted the virus in Ischgl and the surrounding area, five percent suffer from symptoms of long Covid, including headaches, sleep disturbance, and shortness of breath, the VSV association said.
