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The video of the Austrian parliamentarian Michael Schnedlitz (36) goes around the world. The Secretary General of the FPÖ tastes a glass of Cola for Corona in parliament. At the end of your speech, the test strip shows a positive result. He then says that rapid tests are useless and that investing in massive corona tests is a waste of money.
The video is shared with enthusiasm, especially among supporters of conspiracy theories and users against vaccination. It spread around the world on Twitter in a matter of hours. Of course, the far-right German AfD party also added its duty. MEP Alice Weidel (41) applauded on Twitter and presented her like-minded partner’s staging as evidence. But most of the reactions on the Internet are critical. And they are right. The theater in parliament has nothing to do with the functionality of rapid tests.
Test used incorrectly
The FPÖ politician simply applied the test incorrectly. Schnedlitz smeared the glue directly onto the test strip. As a specialist from the manufacturer Dialab writes to the newspaper “Welt”, this can not work. The sample is always first spun out into the so-called buffer and only then dripped. The glue is too acidic to compare with human body fluids, with a pH below three. Cola reacts with antibodies that supposedly trap the virus’s proteins.
The pregnancy test would also be positive
“Any pregnancy test would have been positive. Before the Honorable Member makes such shameful statements public, it might make sense to do a little chemistry, ”says the Dialab manager.
This quick test is not allowed in Switzerland. Kits from Roche and Abbott are used here. Massive large-scale tests started in the canton of Graubünden on Friday. The Bündners are based on rapid tests from the American manufacturer Panbio Abbott. And trust that the accuracy information (sensitivity: 91.4 percent) is correct. According to the manufacturer, about 0.2 percent of the tests are false positives. The result is already available after 20 minutes.
