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The free test offer is to be scaled back in Austria as vaccination progresses. Those who do not get vaccinated would then have to test at their own expense, demands Municipal Association President Alfred Riedl.
Corona tests over summer free of charge
The federation of municipalities wants to reduce the free test infrastructure in the municipalities with continuous inoculation progress. Over the summer the free test offers are still to be maintained, “we owe that to the tourism”, said community federation president Alfred Riedl to the “newspaper “Kurier”. Afterwards this will be reduced. Rejection came on Wednesday to this from the association of cities – and the epidemiologist Gerald Gartlehner called a disappearance of the test roads as “very dangerous”.
Corona tests for non-vaccinated at own expense demanded
In the federation of municipalities one counts on the fact that after the summer all Austrians already had a vaccination offer. Those who do not want to be vaccinated, they would have to test at own expense, so Riedl in the “Kurier”.
“For the smaller number of those who refuse to be vaccinated, health care providers such as pharmacies could then offer testing. In addition, yes, the self-tests are already practiced, which can also be used for the restaurant, hairdresser or cultural visit,” said Riedl. Gemeindebund Secretary General Leiss reiterated the demand in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal”: “In the tourist regions, where there will also be many guests, it will still be necessary to test. But depending on the progress of vaccination, one will consider reducing or withdrawing this infrastructure in the summer months.”
Ludwig thinks nothing of reducing the test offer
The president of the association of cities, Vienna’s mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ), also thinks nothing of a reduction of the offer. “As president of the Austrian Association of Cities, I consider the maintenance of existing and well-functioning test roads to be an essential tool in the fight against the pandemic,” he stressed on Twitter. Although this means a high expenditure of resources – even for large municipalities – the infrastructure must be kept open, especially in view of the fall and the delta mutation, he found.
Expert warns of disappearance of test roads
A clear warning against the disappearance of the test roads came from epidemiologist Gerald Gartlehner on Wednesday: “A fundamental disappearance of the test roads, as it has now been called, would be very dangerous and very delicate, because we actually don’t really know what we will face in the fall with the delta variant,” he told Ö1 radio. If we assume that 60 to 70 percent of the population will be vaccinated in the fall, “then there is still a large proportion who are not vaccinated and who will resort to these vaccination routes,” the expert said.
“And also to reassure the already vaccinated population, some will feel the need, if they develop cold symptoms, to get tested anyway,” Gartlehner stressed. While vaccinated people generally don’t need to get tested because the residual risk is minimal – there are exceptions, he said: “If you develop symptoms that indicate covid” – or if you’re in contact with very vulnerable groups.
Future of free testing roads still unclear after summer
According to “Kurier” and “Ö1,” the Ministry of Health reacted cautiously to the debate. The low-threshold and free test offers are to remain in place for the summer months, but how they will be designed in the future is currently being discussed. New test offers such as the PCR gargle tests and the rapid progress of vaccinations would, however, make a medium-term reallocation of the test capacities possible, it said. In any case, testing of suspected cases will continue to be offered free of charge in the future.
— sources: vienna.at/APA/picture: hp
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