80 million rapid tests? There is a risk of absurd paperwork

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It is only a half-sentence in the new resolution draft of the Prime Minister's Conference - which, however, has great explosive power.

The test centers operated by the municipalities should issue a certificate for each rapid test.

That may make sense - experts have been demanding for months that results be documented, if only to keep track of the pandemic.

Only: There is no idea for implementation.

In practice, this should mean one thing above all: a mess of paper.

A strategy for using the tests has not yet been worked out.

This is one of the reasons why Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) accepted the announcement by Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) to offer "free rapid tests for everyone" from March 1st.

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Soon every citizen should take at least one test per week, they should accompany the "opening steps" - the only question is how and where more than 80 million results are recorded per week.

Who now issues certificates?

In which form?

Are they forgery-proof?

Politicians have not yet had any answers to any of these questions - but there have long been solutions from business.

For example the “pass4all” app.

Behind the Dresden start-up are Kathleen Parma, founder of the “Empty chairs” campaign, which draws attention to the plight of the culture industry, and the IT developer Jörg Meißner.

The app was already used for check-ins at cultural events in September 2020 - now it is supposed to have another benefit: digital proof of the test result.

Clear digital evidence of a negative test result

Source: pass4all GmbH

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"I do not understand how the crisis management imagines the new regulation," said Parma.

"Those who have been tested are given a handwritten slip of paper, which an innkeeper then compares with their identity card?

A digital solution not only saves effort and costs, but also time. "

And “pass4all” could now offer this digital solution.

On the one hand, the verification via QR code saves paperwork.

On the other hand, the app has had an interface to "Octoware" since the end of 2020: the contact tracking software that most of the Saxon health authorities use.

This means that the data can be transferred without any duplication of work.

An interface to “Sormas” - the program that all offices across Germany should actually use - could also be provided, according to Meißner.

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If pharmacies and test centers use “pass4all”, they can transmit results directly.

Large event organizers from the fields of culture, gastronomy and sport can choose between tariffs between 20 and 350 euros per month; the app is free for private users.

Any concepts are becoming more and more interesting, especially for the event industry, now that the crisis management team wants to tie opening steps more and more closely to quick tests.

"We have been in contact with the Saxon state government for a few months, but there has not yet been any concrete support from politics," says Parma.

The district of Böblingen shows how it can work digitally.

Jens Spahn's free promise has been implemented there for weeks.

Initiated by pharmacist Björn Schittenhelm and the responsible district administrator, all residents can have themselves tested twice a week free of charge, appointments are made via the “Doctorbox” app, which also transmits the result.

Pharmacist Björn Schittenhelm is committed to testing in large quantities

Source: Björn Schittenhelm

And the procedure that Schittenhelm calls “Böblinger Weg” could already have the next solution ready.

All results can be transferred to the health authorities using the Doctorbox, explains Schittenhelm.

An interface to "Sormas" has already been created.

The teams in the five centers in Böblingen managed 6300 quick tests last week.

“The capacity could certainly be tripled,” the pharmacist estimates.

But digital solutions are needed for this.

"That is not possible with pure paperwork," he says.

"We can't hand paper to 80 million people once a week and then send faxes to the authorities."

Theoretically, the test results and evidence could also be integrated into the federal corona warning app - an update would probably be sufficient.

But such a step is not planned for the time being.

When asked, the Robert Koch Institute responsible for the app wrote: "We generally do not comment on any measures, especially not those from draft resolutions."