The Vienna City Councilor for Education Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS), City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker (SPÖ) and Education Director Heinrich Himmer announced on Friday. The system has already been tested at more than 60 locations in a test phase.
The PCR tests of the employees of the educational institutions will also be converted to the Gurgel method. In the elementary and special schools, on the other hand, the test program of the Ministry of Education is used – with PCR tests, which should take place twice a week, as well as anterio-nasal self-tests (“nose bur tests”). Children and adolescents who cannot provide 3-G proof – i.e. who have not been vaccinated or recovered or who have not already completed a test at home – have to test at school.
The process is analogous to that for the rest of the population. As part of the campaign, pick-up boxes will be set up in the schools, as they have so far mainly been in Rewe supermarkets or drugstores. In any case, the collection takes place daily from Monday to Thursday. If the school so wishes, it will also be emptied on Friday, it was said today. The gargle kits are also made available to schools.
Objective: no closings
“The top priority is to keep the schools open,” assured Wiederkehr. That is why a close-knit security system is necessary. “This step is particularly important in view of the rampant Delta variant,” stressed Hacker. Because the fact that you are at the beginning of the fourth wave can no longer be changed. The City Councilor for Health was convinced that PCR tests provide a completely different level of security than rapid tests.
In Viennese schools from the 5th grade onwards, gargles are gargled at least twice a week, with mouth rinsing replacing gargling if it cannot be done outdoors. Who is asked to participate depends on the first day of school of the week. Test evidence must be provided on this – usually by means of a rapid test and an additional PCR test. The antigen test is necessary because the result of the PCR test is not available immediately.
At least two tests a week
The goal, explained a spokesman for the APA’s City Health Council, is to get three tests per week. Two tests are the minimum number. That is enough for the school, it is a separate control loop. Vienna cannot shorten the validity period of 72 hours for PCR tests here.
However, the city has already done this for the extracurricular area by ordinance. From September, PCR test results will only be valid for 48 hours as 3-G evidence, for example in gastronomy. This means: In order to be tested continuously for extracurricular areas such as gastro, in most cases, students also have to complete additional corona tests privately.
Pupils must register for the school tests beforehand, whereby school and class are also entered in their profile. This has the advantage that gargle tests that are done at home are automatically incorporated into the system, it was emphasized today.
Mobile vaccination teams visit schools
At the same time, vaccinations are advertised in educational institutions. Mobile vaccination teams, as they were recently in the summer schools, will also visit compulsory or vocational school locations in autumn. Currently, around 30 percent of 12 to 15-year-old Viennese have received at least one prick. For 16 to 19 year olds it is already around 50 percent.
The importance of ventilation in the classrooms was also highlighted again today. Air filter devices are used wherever natural air supply is difficult to implement due to construction work, for example. Vienna has also ordered such from the federal government. A total of 312 devices were applied for.
The gradual expansion of the PCR lollipop tests is being prepared in the kindergartens, as reported by Wiederkehr. The five locations in which a corresponding study was carried out so far are currently being expanded to 23. Both municipal and private institutions are included. With kids from four years of age it is also possible to use “Alles Gurgelt” together with their parents, emphasized the Education City Councilor. It only makes little sense for younger people at the moment.
Kindergartens: Compulsory vaccination for new employees
The requirements in terms of personnel are strict in kindergartens. New employees must provide evidence of a corona vaccination. Today, Wiederkehr once again spoke out in favor of considering a corresponding regulation for teachers too – although this would have to be implemented by the federal government, as he emphasized.
The “Alles gurgelt” campaign was introduced in Vienna in March. So far, 6.29 million PCR samples have been evaluated, as the hacking office of the APA announced. Of these, 0.33 percent were positive (20,508). A total of 965,000 people have already registered for the system.
The FPÖ in Vienna criticized in a press conference on Friday that red-pink did not manage to create planning security. Club chairman Maximilian Krauss and the liberal health spokesman Wolfgang Seidl demanded a “guarantee declaration” that the schools will remain open: “The students want to finally find their way back to a halfway normal school life.”
