Institutions for persons with disabilities The NPM already made clear before the end of the first lockdown that there is no objective justification for isolating persons with disabilities for their own protection – whether they want it or not – as a precautionary measure and to uphold curfews when public life is gradually returning to normal for the rest of the population. The idea that one simply has to isolate risk groups and minimise their personal contacts during the pandemic in order to be able to continue with economic and social life faster was also rejected. Persons with disabilities not automatically highrisk group In early summer, the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection issued two recommendations for institutions and facilities for persons with disabilities in the Laender, to which the NPM also contributed. These emphasised that persons with impairments shall not be assigned to a risk group simply because they have disabilities; this shall be examined individually as with all persons. They also stipulated that measures for the protection of residents of institutions for persons with disabilities shall not be excessive (Recommendations of the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection of 29 May 2020 and 18 June 2020). Obligatory risk-based prevention concepts Several NPM interventions on different levels were necessary before the competent ministry, as part of the COVID-19 Preventive Measures Regulation (COVID-19 Schutzmaßnahmenverordnung) from November 2020, standardised a legal obligation to develop and implement COVID-19 prevention concepts for the owners and operators of institutions for persons with disabilities, which are based on risk analyses and reflect leading-edge science. 2.4.3 Massive curfew and visiting restrictions The core of the lockdown in spring was the instruction by the Federal Government to the population to reduce personal contact as much as possible with persons who do not live in the same household. Entering public space was – with a few exceptions – forbidden. (This ban was subsequently nullified by the Constitutional Court of Austria as unconstitutional). This of course also applied to persons with disabilities who live in institutions and facilities. The lockdown regulations allowed going for a walk, taking care of important errands or visiting doctors’ surgeries, for example. The residential facilities for persons with disabilities were faced with problems due to these exceptions to the curfews. Additional qualified staff was not available; in the beginning, there was a lack of PPE – as there was in the nursing homes. The winding down of medical services as part of the COVID-19 crisis management in the hospitals increased the concern that a crisis could become unmanageable and both symptoms of COVID-19 infection and signs of deterioration could be overlooked. In conversations with commissions, the fear was expressed that outbreaks of infection starting with individual residents of large institutions would be more difficult to bring under control than those 87