It sounded like a promise to some parents: At a press conference last Friday, Prime Minister Markus Söder said that pool tests should gradually be introduced in Bavaria’s daycare centers. In the report from the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the daycare centers are only one of several places: “To further increase the level of security, the aim is, within the framework of the test and material capacities available, to gradually carry out PCR pool tests in old people’s and nursing homes, the 5th and 5th 6. To offer classes in secondary schools as well as in day-care centers. “
The city has not yet received more than Söder’s announcement. “We have no new information from the ministry,” said the spokesman for the Department for Education and Sport (RBS) on Thursday. Together with the private sponsors, Munich decided against PCR pool tests at daycare centers at the end of October.
In a pool test, the samples are examined jointly by several people in the laboratory – only if the entire pool is positive are individual samples tested to find out which person from the group is infected. In elementary schools, children give two samples at the same time: one for the pool, one for a possible individual examination.
“I pay lip service to the pool tests in the daycare centers,” says Daniel Fritsch from the joint parents’ council of the municipal daycare centers. He also heard the press conference, but he saw no chance of implementation. Even if the tests are useful, especially with the crèche children. Because otherwise there is hardly any opportunity to protect the children. The city decided against it for understandable reasons. The logistics for 1500 daycare centers would have to be well planned, ideally by the Free State. “It’s total madness if every municipality organizes it itself.”
The Free State has been supporting rural districts and urban cities with the introduction since September 2021, said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Family Affairs. They themselves decided whether and where they want to use pool tests. “An expansion of the efforts of the state government is subject to the proviso that sufficient test and material capacities are available.” The family and health ministries regularly checked whether and which steps to expand are possible.
One thing is clear: the laboratories already have a lot to do with the regular PCR pool tests at elementary and special needs schools. In Munich, 44,425 children attend 138 elementary schools and 3,374 children attend 15 special schools. At the moment these children are doing a PCR pool test twice a week. After initial difficulties, it went well at most schools – on Tuesday, however, the parents received a letter from the Ministry of Culture: The worsening pandemic situation led to a high number of tests and a very high level of stress in the laboratories. For this reason, “there will be more and more delays in the notification of test results in the future”. It could take until 10 p.m. for parents to be informed whether the pool is negative or positive. However, individual results should be available the morning before the start of the class.
In this situation, it would be a challenge to introduce a pool test procedure at 1,500 day-care centers, which are attended by around 65,000 children. And: who will test the children? Should this happen in the facilities or do the parents bring the test strips with them in the morning? Unlike in primary schools, not all children are brought to daycare centers at the same time, some come as early as 7.30 a.m., others not until 9 a.m.
SPD politician Doris Rauscher, chairwoman of the Landtag’s social committee, said that the previous concept of voluntary self-tests at daycare centers was not enough. “More than half of the parents do not use the self-tests for their children – it doesn’t help to offer three tests a week instead of two.” It calls for mandatory PCR pool tests in day-care centers – for children and carers.
At the daycare centers, some regulations have now been tightened again. 3G has also been in effect there since Wednesday. Parents and other visitors are only allowed to enter crèches and kindergartens if they have been vaccinated, recovered or tested. The only exception: dropping off and picking up children. Christmas parties, parents ‘evenings and meetings of the parents’ council are only possible digitally. And unvaccinated and unrecovered daycare workers must present a test certificate every day before work. An exception are PCR tests, which are valid for 48 hours. The self-tests must be carried out under supervision in the daycare center. On Thursday morning, groups in 128 Munich daycare centers were closed.