Corona free tests for everyone should no longer exist. The federal government therefore created a new test regulation this week – and thus caused confusion in nursing homes and hospitals. Now Bavaria wants to provide clarity.
Munich (dpa / lby) – Bavaria wants to quickly end the confusion about free corona test options for visits to clinics and nursing homes. The Ministry of Health in Munich wants to inform the test centers that visitors to the facilities can continue to receive a free test without a certificate from the clinics or homes.
Eduard Fuchshuber from the Bavarian Hospital Society (BKG) had previously stated on Friday that chaos in the clinics was to be feared at the weekend when many visitors asked for a certificate at the clinic gate. Hospitals could not issue such documents on a large scale. “There are neither personnel nor logistics for it,” he said.
The trigger is the new regulation, which is intended to reduce the costs for the rapid tests. Free tests for everyone have been abolished since this week. Only certain groups, such as those visiting the clinic and home, receive the service free of charge. Others, such as visitors to events in halls or people with a red Corona warning app, can receive tests for an additional payment of three euros. The operators of the test centers charge the full price of the remaining non-authorized persons – depending on the provider, this is between 10 and 15 euros.
Although the Federal Ministry of Health had stated that visitors to the patients could also prove their eligibility in other ways, it also provided a sample confirmation as a template on the website. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) explained again on ZDF on Thursday: “If, for example, the grandmother is in the nursing facility, then you need a signed form from the nursing facility.”
In future, however, a signed self-declaration by the visitor will be sufficient in Bavaria, a spokesman for the Bavarian Ministry of Health told the German Press Agency on Friday. The Free State has noticed the confusion surrounding the new obligation to provide evidence for citizen tests and has already communicated to Berlin that “clarification must be made as soon as possible,” he said.
Bavaria will now inform the test sites themselves that no confirmation from the home or clinic is necessary. “Proof of the respective facility or hospital is currently not a mandatory requirement in order to receive a free citizen test as a visitor, resident or patient,” emphasized the spokesman.
Some nursing homes had already filled out such confirmations in the past few days. A spokeswoman explained that the operating company, which manages the care facilities of Augsburg Caritas, has been asked by relatives for the certificates since last Monday. At that time, details of the regulation were not yet known, the changes had only been announced at a press conference.
At test stations in Stadtbergen near Augsburg, for example, customers found out that the test would only remain free with a form from the home. Other test stations did not give any more appointments for the time being, because the new specifications had to be checked first. “We ask for your understanding that we first want to carefully adapt our processes in order to offer you the usual smooth process,” said the operator “Test Now!”, who has several test stations in Munich.
Comments on the internet also made it clear that people do not see through. This is shown by the reactions of citizens to a Twitter message with which the Berlin Ministry referred to the continued free tests for home visitors. That was a “wonderful bureaucracy monster,” replied one user. “The institutions, which have already been shaken, can now deal with the nonsense.” Other users complained that you would need a test to even pick up the form in the nursing home. Otherwise you won’t be let in at all.
On Friday, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry also tried to put the excitement about the clinic and home certificates into perspective. Visiting the homes and clinics can be made credible by other means, he emphasized. The test centers could also provide forms on which the visitors confirm that they need the test for the visit to a care facility.
