[ad_1]
Due to the sharp increase in demand, wait times at Corona’s test centers are getting longer. Currently, labs can only cope with the volume of tests thanks to night and weekend shifts. Pharmacies should now provide relief.
The queues in front of the test centers are getting longer (Covid-19 test center of the Basel University Hospital on October 23, 2020).
Young Basler was lucky: on Sunday, he reports, he wanted to have a test at the Corona Center of the Basel University Hospital (USB) because he had had contact with an infected person. He arrived penultimate. Everyone else still in line was sent home by hospital staff – they arrived too late. The young man thinks this is strange in the current situation with high levels of contagion.
Complaints about wait times of several hours or even failed attempts to get tested are currently on the rise. Obviously, some regional hospitals are on the attack. But not USB, as spokesman Nicolas Drechsler emphasizes. The number of people tested has doubled to 450 per day in the last two weeks, but the maximum capacity is 750 tests. “We still have air.”
Drechsler denies that those willing to show up on time are turned away. “The moment the test center closes, we say to the last person in line: they will still do the test, only then will it be over.” However, those responsible for the hospital would consider extending the opening hours and not closing the doors at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. “Only then would we have to withdraw specialists from another part of the hospital.”
Drechsler hopes that if the epidemiological situation worsens, bottlenecks will appear first in hospital staff and least in available evidence. The test smears are mainly performed by medical students in Basel, but doctors who can care for seriously ill patients with or without Covid-19, as well as nurses, are also needed in the testing center. “If we had to maintain maximum testing for a long time, it would be very stressful for medical staff,” says Drechsler.
Differences with spring
There are also complaints about long waiting times at the Inselspital in Bern, according to “Blick”. Depending on the day of the week and time of day, the wait time could be more than two hours, says spokesman Alex Josty. At the beginning of the week, the demand for evidence is always higher. Many remember the first wave of spring, when hospitals rapidly increased their testing capabilities. Now, according to Josty, there are two important differences. In the spring, fewer people went to the hospital to get tested for fear of infection. Also, hospitals could have released more staff for Corona because elective interventions were no longer allowed. Now a more violent second wave faces everyday hospital life.
At the Triemli City Hospital in Zurich, it is said that there are currently no queues in front of the test center. This mainly has to do with the fact that you have to register online and you can choose an appointment. Therefore, there should not be long waiting times. However, if you want to be sure of a possible infection quickly, look down the tube – Monday afternoon, the first available appointments were Wednesday afternoon.
“Interest in testing for Covid-19 has been very high for several weeks,” says Andreas Zollinger, medical director of the Waid und Triemli city hospital. Triemli had already greatly increased its self-initiative testing capabilities in September, which is currently 300 per day. No further expansion is planned at Triemli, but Zurich Health Director Natalie Rickli announced on Friday that there should be new test facilities in Zurich and Winterthur. According to Zollinger, the previous test center in Triemli is designed for the maximum reached today in all respects: in terms of space, staff, administration, but also in terms of laboratory capabilities. “The whole chain has to function without complaints”, emphasizes the doctor.
Critical situation in laboratories
This “chain” also includes around 80 laboratories that evaluate the tests. There could also be bottlenecks here. Thanks to night and weekend shifts, labs were able to cope with the sharp increase in the number of tests last week, says César Metzger of the Spiez Laboratory. This week, however, the situation is critical. Metzger is responsible for monitoring the situation in laboratories throughout Switzerland. If necessary, in consultation with the Federal Office of Public Health, they will arrange the allocation of the material that is required for corona tests.
The biggest challenge, besides the replacement of material, is the personnel. The Federal Council is also expected to take up this issue on Wednesday. Without overtime, the labs have a testing capacity of 25,000 per day. According to Metzger, this capacity could be increased to about 38,000 tests per day. However, this requires more staff and a stable supply of test material. The laboratories have certain reservations. However, the federal government cannot publish these figures with reference to trade secrets.
I look forward to quick tests
The cantons prioritize testing, as Michael Jordi, general secretary of the Health Directors Conference (GDK), says. These days new test centers have been built or expanded in various cantons. However, there are regionally differentiated waiting times and bottlenecks in some places, depending on the organization of the test and the level of contamination, as Jordi admits.
With personnel bottlenecks emerging during testing, one option would be to enlist the support of the military. So far, however, no such request has been made, says Jordi. Instead, health directors pinned their hopes on rapid antigen tests. “We want to integrate them into the test system as quickly as possible,” says Jordi. That could make a decisive contribution to relief. The Federal Council will allow the rapid test very soon, Health Minister Alain Berset said in a media appearance in Lausanne on Monday.
Soon 1,500 corona tests per day in Zurich pharmacies
Pharmacies should also increasingly provide relief to large corona centers. In the canton of Zurich, four pharmacies are offering trials in a pilot project and are being invaded. “We can test 20 to 25 people a day and we don’t have more capacity until next Saturday,” says Lorenz Schmid, owner of the pharmacy at Paradeplatz, president of the Zurich Pharmacists Association and the Cantonal Council of CVP.
But the contribution from pharmacies will soon be significantly higher: training courses for up to 36 pharmacists per day will be held at Careum in Zurich over the weekend and early next week so that they can carry out tests in the future. According to Schmid, several dozen pharmacies in the canton are interested in offering corona tests quickly. “That results in capacities of 1,000 to 1,500 tests per day, a relevant contribution.”
Not only must pharmacies provide trained staff, but they must also be able to ensure the safety of other customers through separate rooms, Schmid says. Only the pharmacies that would guarantee this received approval from the Health Directorate. “So our customers have nothing to worry about.”
Also in Schaffhausen, three pharmacies currently offer conventional corona tests. The Pharmasuisse industry association is not aware of similar plans in other cantons. Pharmacies must play a central role in this as soon as rapid tests are available. “Rapid corona testing in pharmacies would be one way to expand testing capabilities and ease the burden on hospitals, medical practices and testing centers,” says Pharmasuisse spokeswoman Rahel Rohrer. The practical accessibility, long opening times and the simple way of implementation speak for pharmacies.
