In the coming week, the last regular mandatory PCR tests will take place at local schools. The PCR testing program that has been running in various forms since the start of the school ends about a month before the end of the school. After Pentecost, antigen testing is only used when necessary, if infections occur elsewhere in a class. Limited further tests can be carried out in Vienna on a voluntary basis.
The regular PCR tests started in September. At that time, at least one PCR test per week (in addition to two antigen tests) was mandatory. Later, two PCR tests per week (in addition to an antigen test) were prescribed, although problems with the test provider made the switch slow. After Easter, a PCR test was used again, using antigen testing only ad hoc (ie when infections were detected in the classroom).
Testing can continue in Vienna
An exception was Vienna, where more and more PCR tests were used from September and with “Alles gurgelt” a different test system is used (only from secondary school/AHS lower level, later also in primary schools). Thus, more PCR tests (and fewer antigen tests) were performed in the federal capital.
On Monday, the students in Lower Austria and Burgenland will test for the last time, followed by their colleagues in Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg on Tuesday and Upper Austria and Styria on Wednesday. In Vienna, it depends on the school in question when the obligatory “last gargle” takes place.
The federal capital then goes its own way: the return boxes at the schools remain available there. Alderman for Public Health Peter Hacker (SPÖ) announced this in an interview with the APA. The usual collection regime will also remain in effect. This allows students to voluntarily continue to hand in their “Alles Gurgelt” tests at school.
However, under federal regulations, only five samples are evaluated per month. Only in the case of tests ordered by the authorities, ie in suspicious cases, can tests exceeding this quota be carried out. Hacker made no secret of the fact that he would have liked to keep the school tests in their current form. The rules of the game had changed out of the blue, he criticized.
Hacker: ‘Minister of Health sends in smokescreen’
“There’s no harm in protecting our kids a little bit,” Hacker said. The screening in the school provided a good overview of the infection process. There are currently 200 schools in Vienna with cases of infection, he stressed. It is also completely open about how things will continue in the fall. The health minister is heading for a “wall of fog”, he warned of a difficult situation at the beginning of the school.
During this week’s test run, 784 infections were discovered in schoolchildren across Austria. That is significantly less than the week before by about 1,350 – before that the numbers had fallen only significantly less. By comparison, in March there were up to 20,000 positive PCR tests in school per week (albeit with two test runs).
It is not yet clear whether and to what extent the tests will resume in September. That depends on the contamination situation, said Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) at the beginning of this week. They are already advertised with this restriction.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
