Medical Association President Thomas Szekeres spoke in the Ö1 Morgenjournal for an Austria-wide regulation like in Vienna. “If you are now valid for three days with a negative test, then that is a relatively long time in which you can become infected and can also infect others,” explains Szekeres. As of September, rapid antigen tests in Vienna will only be valid for 24 hours instead of the previous 48 hours. For PCR tests, the time limit is reduced from 72 to 48 hours. “A shorter validity of the tests protects against infection”, emphasized Szekeres opposite the ORF. SPÖ leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner has also asked the federal government to do the same in Vienna.
In Oberösterreich The office of the responsible LH deputy Christine Haberlander (ÖVP) said: “We are implementing the federal guidelines in Upper Austria. Austria is a small country. For guidelines that serve to combat the pandemic as a whole, a national assessment and a national one are required Solution.”
In Carinthia However, there are currently no efforts to change the previous test specifications. As Gerd Kurath from the state press service said, from the state’s point of view it would be desirable if the same periods of validity were to apply everywhere: “Even now, the different validities of the individual tests are difficult to understand for some. If the federal states still have their own regulations, it will be complete confusing.” From the office of Styrian Health Councilor Juliane Bogner-Strauss (ÖVP) said that a nationwide solution was being waited for.
In Salzburg the country does not reject a shortened validity of corona tests in principle. “If medicine and science recommend that, it makes perfect sense to adapt,” said a spokesman for Governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP) to the APA. “But we advocate a nationwide regulation. If a person from Salzburg commutes to Upper Austria, for example, but is subject to different validities with one and the same test, that is certainly not appropriate.”
However, it is also important to take into account the different living conditions in the individual federal states. “A concept from Vienna cannot always be transferred 1: 1 to all federal states, so it may need adaptations,” said the Haslauer spokesman with regard to the logistically more complex test infrastructure in the country.
In Tirol A reduced period of validity is “not currently being considered,” said Health Councilor Annette Leja (ÖVP) to the APA. She also advocated an Austria-wide regulation: “From our point of view, it would make sense if such measures were decided on nationwide.”
Even Vorarlberg endeavors to find common solutions that apply nationwide in terms of the period of validity in coordination with the federal government and the other federal states in the interests of uniformity. Specifically, it was said to shorten it: “In Vorarlberg, no such measures are currently planned.”
Im Burgenland there are also no considerations to imitate Vienna. A shortening of the validity period of corona tests is not currently being considered, said Governor Hans Peter Doskozil’s office (SPÖ).
