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Wagner emphasized that if the results were positive, the PCR method would be used to repeat the test. If the first result turns out to be a false positive, the person concerned must find out in a few days. However, the rapid tests themselves have turned out to be “of astonishingly good quality if the right ones are chosen.”
This can also be confirmed on the basis of the experience of South Tyrol, where a large mass test with more than 360,000 participants recently took place. In combination with the lockdown, it was possible to significantly reduce the number of new infections, according to the head of the South Tyrol Covid-19 expert team, Marc Kaufmann, who saw this as the only opportunity to control the numbers. About 4,000 asymptomatic infected people could have been eliminated from the equation, according to the scientist responsible for the massive tests in South Tyrol. How great the success was with a surprisingly high willingness to participate among the population voluntarily called up for testing will only become apparent in the medium term. However, they now rely on a monitoring system with nearly 5,000 participants who are regularly screened, at the same time setting up the contact-tracking system, and relying on regional bulk testing, if necessary, Kaufmann explained.
Wagner hopes that after the lockdown and massive testing, contact tracing will be used again in Austria. His great hope is that there will be a meaningful follow-up strategy, because everyone in politics has probably by now understood that the old approach will not work. The doctor believes that a large part of the Austrian population will also participate in recurring tests: “That will also work in Austria.”
