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“Test, test, test” - that has been the mantra in the fight against the pandemic for months.
So far, however, the testing process in Germany has been rather slow compared to other countries.
In particular, systematic tests in schools and in the workplace have long been in short supply.
But that is about to change radically.
At schools almost all over Germany - the only exceptions so far are Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Baden-Württemberg - what is already being tested is already being tested.
From now on, the test quota should also increase in companies.
A regulation initiated by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) stipulates that companies offer their employees a free test once a week.
For activities that are particularly at risk of infection, the employer even has to offer a test twice a week.
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So-called rapid antigen tests are usually used.
These are now available in large numbers, can be used relatively easily and can be read within minutes.
It is the great hope that they should help to contain the pandemic better than before and thus buy the country time until a sufficiently large number of people are vaccinated.
Kai te Kaat is happy about the rapidly increasing number of corona tests because of his job: The molecular biologist is head of the life sciences division at Hilden-based biotech company Qiagen, which also includes corona test products.
During the pandemic, the company increased its own sales enormously thanks to the growing demand for tests and laboratory equipment.
Test does not replace a mask
However, te Kaat is skeptical about the current test process - because the rapid tests that are currently being used in large numbers nationwide sometimes give people a false sense of security: “A negative rapid test does not mean that you can do without a mask and distance.
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That has to get into people's heads.
But Germany is doing little at the moment to provide this kind of education.
Therefore, the test strategy in this country, as well as it is meant, is exposed to the risk that it does not work as intended, ”he warns.
Nevertheless, Germany is by no means relying on the wrong strategy, health experts and business lobbies basically agree: A dense network of tests is helping to contain the pandemic in the current phase.
In addition to the PCR tests - which are still the gold standard due to their accuracy, but require evaluation by a laboratory and therefore only deliver the result with a time delay - the rapid antigen tests can also help to identify asymptomatic infected people more quickly.
However, these tests only reliably indicate an infection if the virus load is sufficiently high and if used correctly, which is why a negative rapid test result does not necessarily mean that the person tested is actually corona-free.
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It is not easy to convey that.
However, there have not yet been any corresponding awareness-raising campaigns that could convey the meaning - and the limits - of quick testing to citizens.
And similar to the masks and vaccinations, Germany has so far lacked decisiveness and, above all, a targeted strategy in the implementation of the nationwide test strategy.
Snap shot at school
Example school: Corona tests were dispensed with in the educational institutions of the republic for weeks.
It has long been clear that school children can be just as contagious as adults.
Then suddenly things had to happen very quickly: in many federal states, shortly before or during the Easter holidays, educational institutions were instructed to organize self-tests for students and teachers.
Which posed the challenge for the schools to develop a plan within a short period of time as to how this requirement can be implemented in a legally compliant manner and with limited resources.
After all: since the end of the Easter holidays, tests have been carried out several times a week at most schools in Germany.
Other countries are much further ahead.
In France, for example, the combination of testing and vaccination to protect schools has so far been thought out much better: teachers over 55 are given priority there.
Rapid tests are now carried out not only on school children, but also on daycare children.
And while the major testing in schools is only really getting underway here, regular student corona tests have long been carried out in Austria under the guidance of medically trained staff.
From the point of view of virologists, the fact that tests are now being carried out across the board at the workplace in Germany because companies are now obliged to do so is the right step.
However, the design of the measure has met with criticism in many industries.
The retail sector in particular is keeping a distance.
Criticism of compulsory testing
Regular corona tests in companies are important and correct, said the head of the HDE retail association, Stefan Genth, WELT.
“Companies in the retail sector see it that way too.
It was therefore superfluous to legally oblige companies to offer their employees one test per week. ”In many places, such tests have long been carried out on a voluntary basis.
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The lack of cost coverage also causes displeasure in the industry.
Genth therefore demands that the state should pay the costs for the compulsory tests.
These should not lead to “additional burdens on companies, for example in the clothing trade, which are already close to bankruptcy due to the pandemic”.
So far, however, nationwide state reimbursement has not been planned.
Under current regulations, employers have to procure and pay for the tests.
Only companies that have little or no turnover due to the Corona requirements can apply the costs to Bridging Aid III under certain conditions.
The Association of Family Businesses even feels that the new obligation to test has been tampering with: “Without it having a measurable effect on the infection rate, companies are obliged to fill their stores with tests.
The obligation to test offers only stirs up unfounded distrust of the economy ”, criticizes President Reinhold von Eben-Worlée.
"It is more than regrettable that the Union has nothing to counter the sullen and suspicious entrepreneurship of the SPD." Especially since a legal test obligation is difficult to implement and control across the board.
Companies want to vaccinate
Criticism also comes from the industry.
The General Manager of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Joachim Lang, recently criticized the measure as "dispensable and pointless for combating pandemics".
At least if it is not ensured that the employer's offer will be accepted.
Because there is no obligation to test for employees.
"It is absolutely clear that companies themselves have a great interest in ensuring that the workplace is a safe place," says the employers' association BDA.
There they are already one step further, because in addition to testing, the employers and the company doctors want to get into the current vaccination campaign as quickly as possible: "The worst has been clarified, we are in the starting blocks for the announced vaccination start in June." The faster the vaccination will be successful , the faster the economy and the economy would get going again.
What can tests do and what are their benefits?
The federal government wants to get the number of corona infections and the virus spread under control with a lot of tests.
PCR test, antigen test, quick test and self test.
The range is diverse.
What can the tests do and what are their benefits?
Source: WORLD / Nadine Jantz
The federal government receives good marks from the Association of the Diagnostics Industry (VDGH), which benefits particularly from nationwide testing.
The strategy is based on extensive and targeted testing, includes various test modules and is flexibly adapted, said Martin Walger, head of the association: "We welcome that very much."
Even if PCR testing remains the gold standard for detecting pathogens, rapid antigen tests are another powerful tool for reducing the number of infections.
Nevertheless, there is criticism because the use of antibody tests is still neglected in the national test strategy from the perspective of the association.
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Diagnostic manufacturers see this as a missed opportunity because such tests can be used to monitor the success of vaccinations.
For example, whether the intervals between the first and second vaccination can be changed - and which people may not need a second pikser because the vaccination protection may be sufficient after the first.
In some countries, such antibody tests have long been used to determine the success of the vaccination.
In Germany it has not even really been discussed yet.
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