Romania-Austria night train new lifeline for care workers, elderly

TIMISOARA, Romania: Romanian care worker Cornelia Weisz arrived in Vienna on Monday after waiting more than two months to resume her work in Austria thanks to a special night train started up despite the border closures due to the new coronavirus pandemic. With a photo of her two children, who remain in Romania, in her bags, the 42-year-old left Timisoara in west Romania Sunday.

Her motivation is “of course the salary, which is five times higher than what I could make in Romania,” she told AFP. Weisz will spend four weeks to care for an elderly diabetic patient in Austria´s western province of Tyrol. Some 65,000 caretakers — 80 percent of them Romanian and Slovakian women — normally work in Austria, where some 33,000 people need 24-hour home care. Many of those in need were left struggling when borders suddenly closed in mid-March as countries sought to stem the spread of the new coronavirus.

After Vienna´s urging, Romania approved the launch of the night train between Timisoara and the Austrian capital, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) apart. Romania, which has reported more than 15,000 COVID-19 cases and almost 1,000 deaths to date, will only start easing its lockdown from this Friday.

After undergoing a temperature check before embarking, the 100-odd caretakers, almost all women, also have to take a coronavirus screening test once they reach Vienna. They can only meet the people they will work with after a negative result.