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Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic leaves no doubt about the success of his massive crown tests nationwide. In the two rounds of testing, thousands of people would have been found infected, the spread of the pandemic would have been slowed and thousands of lives would have been saved. “With the widespread use of antigen testing, we can systematically control the epidemic,” said the founder and president of the populist-conservative movement “Common People and Independent Personalities” (OLaNO). In fact, the evidence is controversial.
Before the start of the logistically complicated and extremely expensive testing campaign, numerous medical experts had warned that the rapid antigen tests used were not intended for such purposes. They are unsuitable for patients without symptoms, compared to the classic PCR tests, which are now considered the gold standard, much less accurate. At least three out of ten infected people are not registered by them, and false positive results are also possible, according to experts.
The tests were the premier ray action
The prime minister was not discouraged: “In a situation where your house is on fire, don’t see if the pot was bought to make soup. You will just put it out with it.” The type of evidence is by no means the only point of contention in the mass project.
In fact, it was all a lightning action from Matovic. After all of Corona’s requirements, including the state of emergency declared in early October and the subsequent ban on assemblies, failed to take effect and the number of new infections rose to more than 2,000 in mid-October, the prime minister began his counteroffensive. Matovic announced on October 17 the megaproject called “Shared Responsibility”, the first details were released two days later, and the cabinet approved it the same day.
Shocked audience
Around four million Slovaks, all residents over the age of ten, should take the Corona test, at least twice. From an organizational point of view, the project will take over the army. Even President Zuzana Caputova, the current commander-in-chief of the army, was not informed in advance by Matovic, causing disagreements between the country’s two main constitutional holders. Furthermore, it turned out that the government had already purchased 13 million antigen tests for almost 60 million euros, without public procurement. A pilot test should take place in northern Slovakia in just four days, Matovic announced.
The public, many experts and politicians were surprised. Especially after it soon became apparent that “voluntary” participation in mass testing will not be completely voluntary. Because not only people with a positive test result must be quarantined for ten days, but also all people who have not been tested.
141,000 residents screened in three days
The pilot test in four districts of northern Slovakia with particularly high numbers of infected people was set up in four days with enormous efforts on the part of the defense forces, local governments and medical professionals. Between October 23 and 25, nearly 141,000 residents were tested, 91 percent of the target group. In nearly 5,600, or 3.97 percent, antigen tests detected a Covid 19 infection.
Encouraged by the first success, Matovic continued his plan. A week later, the whole of Slovakia was put to the test. Despite violent protests from the Medical Association that the doctors, who would be the only ones allowed to make concessions at the nearly 5,000 test sites, would be extremely deficient in the ailing health service.
No more testing
Finally, on October 31 and November 1, around 3.6 million people were evaluated in the first national round. More than 38,000 were positive, or 1.06 percent. A week later, more than two million Slovaks were tested, 13,500 of them positive, or about 0.66 percent. Follow-up tests were only available in 45 districts where the infection rate a week earlier was above 0.7 percent.
Prime Minister Matovic and his government hailed the visible decline in infections, as well as the high “voluntary” participation of citizens as a huge success. It is unknown how many Slovaks attended the tests just because they wanted to go to work or go shopping the following Monday, which was only possible with a negative result.
However, there should be no further testing at the national level. Another round of testing was announced on November 21-22, but only in about 500 specific communities where more than 1 percent of the sick were found in the previous round. This should affect about 400,000 people. (What)
