By Bond Robertson 
The first lawsuit concerns prominent journalist Hans Schopf (72), Who died a few days after his injury On a ski holiday in Ischgl.
This case is the first of a total of 15 civil lawsuits to be brought before the court, in which the Austrian state is accused of not responding quickly enough to reports of coronavirus infection in the popular ski town, also called “Alps Ibiza”, at the start of the corona outbreak in March last year.
Schaop’s wife, Sieglind Schopf, said in an interview with Agence France-Presse earlier this year that “her whole world fell apart” when her husband died.
It is said that she herself encouraged him to go on a ski vacation.
– I can’t forgive myself, because in the end I sent him to death.
Lies cost lives
The wife and family are now demanding 100,000 euros – about 1 million Norwegian kroner – in compensation from the Austrian state.
Schop’s widow and consumer organization VSV are behind the lawsuit.
The couple’s son, Ulrich Schopf, appeared in court on Friday on behalf of his mother, when it became very difficult for her emotionally, the Austrian son told ORF.
He said that the family does not take the case to court because of the money, but because of justice, and that they plan to donate the money to charities if they win.
When Dagbladet visited the VSV office in Vienna in March of this year, they could tell that Schöpp’s case had received a lot of attention in Austria.
According to VSV, he likely had one of them Crowded buses from Ischgl, when the ski resort was suddenly evacuated and went into lockdown on March 13, 2020. Sebastian Reinfeldt, who was investigating what happened in Ischgl on behalf of VSV, said people stood erect like herring in a barrel on buses for several hours.
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– Here we are asking for compensation on behalf of the wife and family for the trauma caused by the death and funeral expenses, VSV leader Peter Kolba told Dagbladet.
According to VSV, 32 people died after being infected in a small Austrian village in March last year.
They lied, and lies cost lives. People died, Sebastian Reinfeldt told Dagbladet in March.
Lies cost lives
52 Norwegians
In addition to 15 civil cases, the organization is also leading a class action suit on behalf of 1,000 victims of Ischgl infection.
– We have 56 Norwegian victims involved in this, Kolpa told Dagbladet in March.
A very large number of Norwegian ski tourists on winter vacation brought the virus back from this region, giving the head start to the Corona epidemic in Norway. At the end of March, the National Institute of Public Health was able to trace more than 600 cases of infection in Norway back to Austria.
Previously Dagbladet I spoke to Norwegians with corona who visited Ischgl and Kitzloch in March last year, and who described the situation in the alpine village as “business as usual”.
Worldwide, there are 11,000 cases of infection that can be traced back to the outbreak in Ischgl, according to VSV.
The perfect location for the virus
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Austrian authorities are accused of acting too late with reports of infection, which began in March 2020. As early as March 4, 2020, an email was sent from Iceland’s health authorities to the Austrian Ministry of Health, 14 after Icelandic tourists returned home from their ski holiday in I am suffering from corona infection.
Icelandic authorities have also reported cases of infection through the European Early Warning System (EWS).
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An email will also be sent from Iceland on the evening of March 5 with an overview of the hotels in Ischgl where the infected tourists have stayed. There is also an unofficial warning from an Icelandic tour guide, who recently visited Ischgl with a travel companion, who warned that people in the group might be infected, as previously told VSV Dagbladet.
However, it wasn’t until March 13 that the ski resort chose to go into lockdown and within hours Ischgl was empty for tourists.
They (authorities, editor’s note) had information from three sources that said basically the same thing. Since March 5, they learned about the infection that was taking place, and there was no reason to doubt what was said. They knew and ignored it. I didn’t expect these obvious lies, Reinfeldt told Dagbladet.
The tourists fled in panic
rejects the accusations
In Austria, local and federal authorities have always insisted that they have done everything in their power to deal with the situation.
– When infections were confirmed in Ischgl, authorities immediately took the initiative, among other things, to carry out extensive testing or local lockdowns, Governor Günther Platter in the Tyrol region, where Ischgl is located, previously told Dagbladet.
Any infection with this malicious virus is unfortunate. No one in Ischgl or Tyrol wanted anyone to be hurt. Under this pandemic, the entire world has had to contend with clusters and pockets of infection. I am sorry that the virus came to Ischgl and infected many people there. But no village alone can be held responsible for a global pandemic.