The debate on Sunday was stimulated by Economics Minister Margarethe Schramböck (ÖVP). The background is opening steps and the reintroduction of 3-G in several areas, but also the obligation to vaccinate: “We have a vaccination that is free, that is available, that offers the best possibility of protection. And in the long run it will probably not be possible to explain to the majority, who also pay for it with their tax money, that testing is maintained for a minority that is not vaccinated.”
Support came on Monday from the ÖVP federal states, but also from Chancellor Nehammer. “Paid tests yes,” said Nehammer when asked by the APA on the sidelines of an official visit to Switzerland. He referred to ongoing negotiations regarding the implementation options and the time horizon. Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) also recently signaled that one might discuss charging for the tests.
Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) left the question of the tests open for the time being. He had previously announced that they were currently working intensively on evaluating and revising the test strategy. The next steps will be discussed on Wednesday. Most recently, the Greens said that the tests should definitely remain free until March.
Vienna calls for test expansion in federal states
Unsurprisingly, the Vienna city government jumped into the breach for testing on Monday. As is well known, the capital has set up an efficient and low-threshold PCR test system. You want to stick to this one too. Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) emphasized that the test system made it possible to identify chains of infection very quickly.
Ludwig, on the other hand, advocated that there should be an expansion in other federal states. He criticized calls for a chargeable PCR test regime. Health Councilor Peter Hacker also pointed out that the Vienna Test System prevents unnecessary sick leave through the possibility of free testing – more on this in wien.ORF.at.
Criticism of the free tests, on the other hand, came from the ÖVP federal states. “Tests are being carried out all over the country” at the moment, according to Vorarlberg’s governor Markus Wallner. He advocated restrictions adapted to the situation and suggested, for example, only testing symptomatic people or certain professional groups. Similarly, Upper Austria’s governor Thomas Stelzer – in view of Omikron, he called for a rethinking of the test strategy, which costs “a lot of tax money”.
“Small Contribution”
The Tyrolean Governor Günter Platter also advocated more selective testing and suggested demanding a “small contribution”, as did his colleague from Styria, Hermann Schützenhöfer. The Lower Austrian head of state, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, recently supported an end to the free tests for unvaccinated people.
The Burgenland governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) had already proposed at the beginning of January to make PCR tests for unvaccinated people subject to a charge. Instead of compulsory vaccination and the associated administrative penalties, he proposed an “indirect compulsory vaccination” by “paying for PCR tests for the unvaccinated”. The Carinthian governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) called the design of the test strategy before the summit on Wednesday an open question.
FPÖ once morest “meaningless mass testing”
For the FPÖ, the free tests must be retained “as long as the government forces people to submit a negative corona test for access to certain areas,” said FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. If the “pointless mass testing of healthy people was stopped” and tests were only carried out in symptomatic people or in sensitive areas such as hospitals or nursing homes, the question of free tests would not arise at all.