Health – Munich – Half a billion euros spent on self-tests in schools – Bavaria
Munich (dpa/lby) – The state government has spent half a billion euros in the past few months on the corona self-tests in Bavaria’s schools alone. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health in Munich said that the Free State had submitted self-tests worth around 500 million euros for the schools between September and March last.
In addition to the rapid tests, PCR pool tests are carried out in primary and special schools as well as in the 5th and 6th grades.
For the daycare centers – where a quick test has to be carried out at least every other day – no figures on the costs could be presented yet. The settlement of the entitlement certificates, with which the parents get the tests for their children in pharmacies, is still taking place.
The state government will stick to the mass tests at least until the Easter holidays – even if the tests sometimes don’t work at all or only work late. After the holidays, the infection situation and the laboratory capacities will be used to check whether the tests in schools and daycare centers are still useful, according to the Ministry of Health.
Among other things, the virologist Hendrik Streeck had criticized the mass testing of symptom-free students, saying it did more harm than good, he wrote in “Der Zeit”.
In addition to the costs, the rapid tests also generate tons of waste. The pandemic has led to significantly more waste worldwide, whether it be masks, disinfectants or tests or the additional ones from practices, clinics, vaccination and test centers, according to the ministry. “A certain amount of waste production” cannot be avoided during the pandemic. After that, tests are ordered in large containers and bulk packs, so that not every test is individually packed.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220322-99-619673/2