Corona test in schools: the lollipop method is intended to end displeasure

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Actually, Tim Hanebeck, 17, currently has really other things to do than thinking a lot about how best to be tested for the coronavirus.

In a few days he will be writing his first Abitur exam.

So he just sends a WhatsApp message quickly.

"I have already taken the lollipop test a few times at school," he writes, "it was definitely the most pleasant of all that we had to take in the past few months."

Hanebeck's high school in Cologne-Rodenkirchen is one of the schools that are currently using a new test concept.

In the lollipop method, children in a class suck on a cotton swab for 30 seconds.

All samples in the class are collected in a tube and sent to the laboratory.

Only a single PCR test is necessary to evaluate all of these saliva samples.

Tim Hanebeck

Source: -

The results are available on the same day.

If the result is positive, the students have to go into quarantine the next day until a second, personal test result is available.

In this case, the families have a second chopstick at home, which is then used.

One day later, the infected child can be filtered out and the others can go back to school.

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"We all feel much safer with this test method," says Almuth Roselieb, director of the Rodenkirchener Gymnasium.

“Testing with rapid antigen tests is much more time-consuming, and we have also had numerous false positive results.

I could well imagine that, accordingly, many negative test results are also incorrect. "

Criticism of antigen tests is getting louder

According to the Robert Koch Institute, 40 percent of the positive rapid antigen tests are false positive.

There is no information about the false negative tests.

But the criticism of the reliability of the antigen tests is getting louder.

According to the virologist Christian Drosten, the first three infectious days are not recorded with rapid tests.

“The lollipop test, on the other hand, works even with a very low viral load,” says Isabelle Suárez, infectiologist and medical director of the pilot project “Schoco” (school observation for corona ”) at the University Clinic in Cologne.

Before the Easter break, Suárez and her team tried the lollipop tests in 22 schools.

"We have found that we can interrupt chains of infection very effectively and very early with pool testing."

Infectiologist Isabelle Suárez: "The child can avoid the situation where all classmates stare at the positive result"

Source: Cologne University Hospital

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Of the 3400 collective tests in Cologne last week, 24 were positive.

In all positive collective test cases, the result was attributable to a single child.

But it could then go into quarantine before it could infect its schoolmates in the test group.

Suárez also sees a psychological benefit.

The child does not find out about the result at school, but at home.

“That way, the teachers can be kept out and the child can avoid the situation where all classmates are staring at the positive result,” says Suárez.

The biggest advantage, however, is the child-friendly sampling, which now makes it possible to test even small children easily.

For a week now, the city of Cologne has also been offering all daycare centers voluntary lollipop tests.

In some cities, the tests are already being used across the board in all kindergartens.

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In the Klingenbande day care center in Solingen, for example, there has been a new ritual in the morning circle since the beginning of March.

All 92 children suck the lollipop test for 30 seconds.

The children have long since built the procedure into their play.

“There is a high level of acceptance for the lollipop tests, both by the children and by the parents,” says Kita manager Julia Jarrar.

"That works very well."

Put all test sticks together

Source: City of Freiburg

In terms of infectiology, testing in day-care centers is a major step forward: so far, day-care children have not been tested at all or hardly at all, although it has long been clear that preschool children are also involved in the infection process.

Jarrar receives rapid antigen tests for every child twice a week from the city, but only a few parents pick them up.

Every time there is a roar and a lot of tears when the test stick has to be inserted into the nose.

Can the tests be used correctly on a fidgeting toddler and whether the negative result is meaningful?

But even Jarrar's youngest child, 13 months old, can take part in the lollipop tests.

It sees the other children sucking on the chopsticks and imitating.

Meanwhile, the educator is counting down or saying a rhyme.

The courier arrives at noon and Jarrar sends two chopsticks for each child to the laboratory.

At some point during the night, she then receives a text message on her cell phone - so far always with a negative result.

"It would be a great relief for our work if we could continue to use this method," says Jarrar.

The city of Solingen plans to soon extend lollipop testing to all primary schools.

The method is also popular in other federal states.

"We are totally convinced of the concept and would like to offer it to all daycare centers and schools in the city," says Martin Horn (independent), Lord Mayor of Freiburg.

The University of Freiburg has taken over the Cologne concept and developed it further.

"We are docked to a computer system through an Austrian company and now have a digital test system," says Horn.

Martin Horn, Lord Mayor of Freiburg

Source: picture alliance / dpa

If a pool test turns out positive, all parents receive a standardized request by email and SMS to have the child tested for a second time on the same evening between 5 and 8 p.m.

For this purpose, Horn had a test road built at the Freiburg trade fair.

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Only the transmission of the tests is still analogous: the tubes are brought to the laboratory by bicycle courier.

In the coming week, 32 primary schools in Freiburg will be involved, then all daycare centers and then the secondary schools.

The University of Freiburg recently submitted the project to the Federal Ministry of Health and the RKI - both have announced their interest and support.

Horn has now also spoken to the Chancellor about the project.

She was very interested.

"After successful expansion, we are happy to pass our IT structure on to other cities," says Horn.

However, an exact cost calculation is complex.

“You don't know in advance how many pool tests have to be resolved in the laboratory,” says infectiologist Suárez.

"But because the collective tests save resources in the laboratories, the costs roughly correspond to those of the rapid tests."

A nationwide deployment would still be an enormous logistical effort.

"My recommendation would be to limit this test method to small children and thus to daycare centers and elementary schools."

The new PCR express test has that advantage over all others

Samples are taken conveniently and painlessly using a gargle test in 500 test centers nationwide.

The evaluation should be available within 24 hours and is considered to be much more reliable compared to rapid tests.

Source: WORLD / Peter Haentjes