Kindergartens are starting again with lollipop tests
Coronavirus
Salzburg is making a new attempt for extensive CoV tests for children in kindergartens and crawling groups. As of Monday, a total of 180,000 lollipop tests will be sent to the care facilities in the state. Handling should become easier.
Last autumn, the lollipop tests were PCR tests, this time antigen tests that the kindergarten children are supposed to do. Since this makes handling much easier, the country is hoping for a higher participation than in autumn.
Test result after a few minutes
The tests will be sent to the more than 600 childcare facilities in Salzburg in several tranches from Monday. While these rapid tests are less accurate than the PCR lollipop tests that were used in October, they are also easier to make. You no longer have to send in the test with a video of the test and wait for the evaluation, but see the result after a few minutes.
If childcare councilor Andrea Klambauer (NEOS) also marks a higher participation rate, because only a little more than a quarter of the kindergarten children took part in the PCR tests in October. How the tests are organized is left to the respective institutions, emphasizes Klambauer.
Participation is still voluntary
Most kindergartens and crawling groups would probably give the test kits to the parents at home so that they can test the children in the morning before kindergarten, according to their department. Participation in the tests is definitely voluntary.
The State of Salzburg has ordered a total of 180,000 antigen lollipop tests for the kindergarten children, which will be distributed over the next few weeks. The costs for this are around 440,000 euros.