200 positive test at schools in Vienna and Lower Austria

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Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP) gave a positive assessment on Thursday of the use of the new rapid antigen tests at schools in Vienna and Lower Austria. The acceptance among students and parents was great, only one percent had refused the test. In total, 198 of the 470,000 tests were positive on Monday and Wednesday (75 percent count). At the press conference, epidemiologist Gerald Gartlehner pleaded for the reasons for this low number to be ascertained.

In the first two rounds of testing on Monday and Wednesday, Vienna accounted for 142 positive cases among students, teachers and administrative staff, and Lower Austria for 56. In elementary schools, the test struck 57 children, in middle schools and AHS lower schools 34, in upper schools there were 32 positive rapid tests and among teachers and administrative staff 75. The ministry attributes the low number of detected infections, among other things, to the timing of the test: because of the previous lockdown or vacations, a lower incidence of infection among schoolchildren had been expected. In addition, only asymptomatic children who feel healthy are usually tested.

False positive results should be few among the 200: In Lower Austria, according to Education Provincial Councilor Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister (ÖVP), 80 percent of positive rapid antigen tests were confirmed when checked with the PCR method during a random sample survey. In Vienna, this was the case for 75 percent, according to Education City Councilor Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS). Both stressed the importance of the tests as an additional measure to keep schools open as long as possible. After all, those infected would otherwise have continued to sit in classes and could have infected others.