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Today, only people with symptoms are paid for the test. Now comes the system change. In the future, the federal government also wants to support corona preventive exams.
The politicians of the Graubünden Grand Council will be tested during the first massive crown test on Wednesday, December 9, 2020.
Photo: Thomas Egli
Markus Wolf, director of the mountain railways in Flims-Laax, called the federal government in early December. Because he had a test concept and thought it should be used throughout Switzerland. But Virginie Masserey, the head of infection control, turned it down. The legal hurdles are too high.
Apparently they are no longer today. The Federal Council wants to promote and partially fund the Graubünden test model, as it writes in the letter accompanying the amendment to the ordinance that was sent to the cantons for consultation on Friday. The decision will be made on Wednesday, but it is predictable: the cantons will have nothing against the federal government finally going. Lukas Engelberger, president of the cantonal health directors, says in “Blick”: “I think the cantons support this realignment.”
Today, the federal government only pays for a test if someone has symptoms. The Federal Council now also wants to pay for periodic preventive tests. That is, in the vicinity of particularly vulnerable people, that is, in homes and hospitals. Or also in schools and companies, if the canton orders this type of series of tests due to “high transmission risks”. Temporary hotspot management in the event of uncontrolled outbreaks can also be funded by the federal government.
“Great interest” in the Graubünden model
The model is Graubünden: the department of the interior and the Federal Office of Public Health followed the Graubünden test model “with great interest,” according to the accompanying letter. With repeated testing, Poschiavo has reduced active Covid cases from 74 to 5. And the Flims-Laax mountain railway company has been testing its around 1,000 employees on its own for several weeks. Employees use an electronic questionnaire to determine their individual risk profile and personal testing rate – daily to biweekly. The PCR test used is so simple that hardly anyone refuses, says CEO Markus Wolf.
Regular testing can help significantly reduce the infection rate: A student at Schiers Evangelical Middle School will undergo a PCR test on Friday, January 8, 2021.
Photo: Gian Ehrenzeller (Keystone)
The employees take the utensils home: a small plastic bag with a tube and a saline solution that you gargle for 30 seconds and then spit out. The samples are collected at various central points in the company and taken to the laboratory in Thurgau. The result is available after a few hours. Three positive cases of Covid have been determined, says Markus Wolf. The PCR method also indicates an infection if someone has not yet had any symptoms, unlike the rapid antigen test. The three who tested positive had no symptoms, two of them flared a little later, one did not. It is very likely that all three had infected other people.
The federal government fears the costs
Basel-Stadt was the first canton to test a nursing home. In Baselland, repeated massive tests were carried out in homes at the beginning of the year, after which infections decreased. Graubünden has become a pioneer of testing. In early December the first generalized mass test was ordered, then there were tests in schools and companies. The bottom line: repeated testing leads to success. “This allowed us to reduce the figures to almost zero,” says Martin Bühler, head of the cantonal management staff. The objective is to get out of the confinement as soon as possible. If 30 percent of all employees in the canton were assessed weekly after the reopening, the R-value would still be low, according to Bühler’s calculations. But it would be 40,000 tests per week.
“It is good that we can point out a promising path. But there’s still a lot to do “.
It will be a question of money. The Bündner governing council has invested 25 million francs for tests and vaccines, 12 million for tests. But that is not enough. The Flims-Laax operation only expects costs of half a million francs, but expects the federal government and the canton to take care of this. If it works efficiently, a PCR test costs around 40 francs, says Markus Wolf, “if nobody wins with it.” As soon as the pact is playing with it, it will be more expensive. The current market value of a PCR test is around 130 Swiss francs.
The costs are the reason why the Federal Council continues to impose restrictions despite the change of testing regime: “Also due to the economic consequences that should not be underestimated and the lack of sufficient scientific evidence”, the BAG does not want to fund massive tests usually.
Laax boss Markus Wolf, who was fired from the federal government in early December, are you satisfied? Are you annoyed by the slowness in Bern? “We shouldn’t be fighting Covid and dealing with it at the same time,” says Wolf. “We can get excited later.” And Senior Executive Director Martin Bühler says: “It is good that we can point a promising path. “But there’s still a lot to do”.
