Information regarding COVID-19 is available on the website of the Federal Ministry of the Republic of Austria for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Potection:
https://www.sozialministerium.at/en/Coronavirus/Information-in-English.html#entering-austria
Since rules might change, we plan to inform all participants about one month before the start of the school about the rules in place during the school. However, we would already call your attention, that it is much less effort for you to enter Austria if you are vaccinated against COVID-19.
Update (March 5, 2022)
Austria eases most of the COVID-19 measures. This means, among other things:
- No more access regulations for visiting hotels, restaurants, etc.
- Relaxation of the FFP2 mask requirement. The need to carry it will only be necessary in essential trade (e.g. supermarkets, post office, banks, pharmacies).
- For the Russbach School, it will be mandatory to wear FFP2 masks. Please bring your own masks if possible. We only have 2 masks per participant available for the whole week.
- Discontinuation of curfew
- Opening of night gastronomy
- Entering Austria
- The entry requirements for Austria should remain unchanged for the time being. Accordingly, the 3G (vaccinated, recovered, tested) regulation for entry into Austria applies until further notice (validity of observed antigen rapid tests 24 hours, validity of PCR tests 72 hours - each from acceptance).
Due to the rather low number of participants, the venue of the school will be for all participants at Waldwirth, where we are able to keep a distance of two meters between the participants.
Update (February 21, 2022)
We are glad to inform you that we decided to organize the school 2022 on-site despite the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and in strict accordance with all measures to ensure a healthy and safe environment for all attendees. The situation is evolving every week with a positive trend and the restrictions to date may be lightened further.
From February 19, 2022, travel to Austria is permitted only with (a) certified fully vaccinated status, (b) recovery status, or (c) evidence from an authorized body of a negative result of a SARS-CoV-2 antigen test, that needs to be renewed every 24 hours.
Further, in compliance with the official rules, school attendees must wear FFP-2 masks during the sessions and keep 2 m distance to each other with fixed seats. To ensure this distance, we will host the school in two separated locations with, in one room, in-person lectures for students (students and respective lecturer physically present) and, in the other room, streamed presentations for seniors/idle lecturers. Participants in principle don’t need to be tested during the school. However, to reassure everyone, we propose to provide self-tests so that attendees can test themselves every morning before entering the common rooms. The regulations for the social events, meals and accommodation are subject to the official rules of the state of Austria, which will be fully implemented by the local hotel owners.
This rather constraining framework is indispensable to avoid cancelling the Russbach school for the third time. To know the number of participants, we kindly ask you to confirm your registration by the end of Wednesday, February 23, 2022, as well as your planned arrival and departure date. We would greatly appreciate if you can cross-check that these dates are in accordance with the ones of your registration.
In case you would need some more time to take a decision, please let us know. Please accept our apologies for the short notice, which is due to quickly adapting regulations from the state officials to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Update (January 31, 2022)
Due to the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to keep you up-to-date with the preparations for the school. We still plan to have an in-person school taking place in Russbach. For that we are in contact with the hotel owners, work on a prevention concept, and organize a larger lecture hall to ensure the health of all participants and to comply with the Austrian regulations.
Of course, we are aware of the increasing infections worldwide and we are closely monitoring how the situation evolves. We plan to make a final decision on February 18, 2022, if the school will or will not take place. Hence, we recommend to wait with booking the travel tickets until then.
