Status: 07/26/2021 5:50 a.m.
Low incidences, increasing vaccination rates: the pressure to get tested for corona has decreased. The range of free test options is decreasing. In return, the tests are becoming cheaper in stores.
Aldi was the first. On March 6th – a Saturday – the discounter offered corona rapid tests for the first time at home. With a nasal swab, you could check yourself whether you had been infected with SARS-CoV2. A pack of five tests cost just under 25 euros, and in the morning the contingent was sold out nationwide. The run on the self-tests was huge, but the offer initially remained scarce and expensive.
A self-test today costs as much as two rolls
While supermarkets, drugstores and pharmacies gradually entered the business, new centers opened up everywhere where citizens could get tested for Corona free of charge. And the so-called citizen tests had another advantage: unlike self-tests, they are accepted in shops, restaurants and leisure facilities. The result: the run on the self-tests ended as quickly as it began. Today they are available at a unit price of 0.75 euros. That’s about as much as you pay for two wheat rolls in the bakery.
The competitive price indicates an oversupply. The dealers do not want to give exact figures. When asked, Aldi only said: “With the expansion of the test capacities in the test centers and the increasing vaccination rate, the demand has decreased as expected”. The drugstore chain dm is also keeping a low profile. “In the past few weeks, the demand for corona self-tests has fluctuated,” says Sebastian Bayer, who as managing director at dm is responsible for marketing and procurement. There is currently great demand because businesses, institutions and families with children in particular have a great need.
However, this need could continue to decline the more people are protected against the virus. According to the Robert Koch Institute, almost half of Germans are currently fully vaccinated. The drugstore chain dm writes that it wants to tailor the range of self-tests to the needs of customers. The discounter Aldi promises to “continue to offer customers this convenient and easy way of testing” for the time being.
Many pharmacies no longer test
The test for at home can still be bought in most pharmacies, but many no longer offer the free citizen test. At the beginning of June, around 2500 pharmacies nationwide were registered as test centers on the mein-apothekenmanager.de portal. The German Pharmacists Association, which operates the portal, estimates that around half of them have discontinued or at least reduced their offer.
On the one hand, this is due to the lower demand. “It is not worth maintaining the infrastructure if only five people are passing by a day,” explains Dr. Ursula Sellerberg, the deputy press spokeswoman for the Federal Association of German Pharmacists’ Associations. On the other hand, the remuneration also plays a role. This was reduced on July 1st: instead of a maximum of 18 euros per test, pharmacies and test centers can now charge a maximum of 11.50 euros. In some cases, pharmacies have set up separate test rooms and assigned staff, explains Sellerberg. Due to the lower remuneration, this is no longer attractive for many pharmacies.
Private test centers hardly pay off anymore
Due to the lowering of the remuneration, test centers are less and less worthwhile for private operators. In Hamburg alone, more than 100 rapid test centers have closed. In June there were more than 400, today there are only 288, confirms the spokesman for the Hamburg health authority Martin Helfrich. This trend can be observed nationwide. From Stralsund to Bielefeld to Stuttgart – test centers are being closed everywhere. The rest of the time limit the opening times. “The operators are being cut off,” complained at the beginning of the month Christoph Neumeier, the managing director of CoviMedical, one of the largest private providers nationwide.
The times when a corona test cost five euros seem to be over for good. The million dollar business has turned into a struggle for existence. But operators like Neumeier don’t just worry about their own future. They also fear that test capacities could be missing if the delta variant spreads further after the summer holidays – and the incidences rise sharply again.