This should give 12 to 15-year-olds who are not (fully) vaccinated access to areas in which the 2G rule (vaccinated, recovered) applies. This is an important relief for winter tourism, said Tourism Minister Elisabeth Köstinger at a press conference with Education Minister Martin Polaschek (both ÖVP) on Friday.
According to Köstinger, the Ministry of Tourism takes over the “Ninja Pass” during the school-free period and creates a “practical solution” for tourists who spend their holidays in Austria with their 12 to 15 year old children. The Austrian 2G rules are not easy to meet for young holidaymakers from abroad. For example, the rules from when someone is considered fully vaccinated are not the same everywhere, according to Köstinger.
The “Holiday-Ninja-Pass” is only intended to serve as a documentation overview, the young people must have the official test certificate and photo ID with them. After all, there is no test infrastructure of its own like in schools. Two PCR tests are required, one of which is already required for entry into the country, and an antigen test. In federal states where PCR tests are not widely available, one PCR test is sufficient. this requires two antigen tests. The pass covers five days with tests, plus two bonus days – like the normal school “ninja pass”, which is also valid on weekends.
Since this school year, three corona tests have been held every week in schools, at least one of which must be a PCR test. Two of the safer PCR tests are already on the program in Vienna, Lower Austria and Upper Austria. All other federal states should follow suit on January 17th, announced Polaschek at the meeting. “This is a feat,” said the minister, referring to limited tests and laboratory capacity. With this measure one wants to make the school operation even safer. There is a change at the test provider after a new tender.
To ensure that the schoolchildren and their families are as safe as possible on Christmas holidays, each child is also given three antigen tests to take home with them. Two of them can be used freely, for example to test yourself before meeting relatives and friends. One is to be used on January 9th, the day before school starts again in the coming year. Polaschek emphasized again that it was his goal to keep the schools open despite the more contagious Omikron variant. The number of positive PCR tests in schools is currently low. Should the infection rate increase in schools, one will react to it. The same also applies in the event that Omikron’s stricter quarantine rules (14 days of isolation without the possibility of an earlier free test for infected people or close contact persons) should exist.
Source: Nachrichten
