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The University of Graz is concerned about the question of whether mass tests for nine million people in Austria are possible in a few weeks. Currently, around 30,000 people in Austria are tested for SARS-CoV-2 every day. According to logistics researcher Marc Reimann, a test of the entire population could realistically take four to six months, as the University of Graz said on Friday.
The federal government had been considering massive tests for December to keep coronavirus infections under control. Slovakia has already started testing, with the support of Austrian soldiers, among others.
1,000 stations, 15 hours a day
Logistics researcher Reimann has made calculations: The question was, as long as all Austrians can actually get tested for SARS-CoV-2, if all Austrians can be tested in a month. The extremely optimistic assumptions: “A sample is taken every three minutes, in the test stations there is never, during the whole month, not even a small pause”. To reach this number, you would have to work 15 hours a day at 1,000 stations, seven days a week. That would add up to the 300,000 tests needed per day. However, this is done under the premise that assessment capabilities are also available accordingly.
Currently, up to 30,000 people are being tested for Covid-19 in Austria every day. “With the current capacity, we would need ten months to test all of Austria,” said the researcher. He views a doubling of available resources as realistic, but even then, an assessment of the nine million people would take four to six months.
