District - “Hello, this is the center of madness,” says Alexander Brandstaeter when his phone rings.
On the first day of the chargeable Covid tests, the gap between the theoretical test regulation and its practical execution becomes visible here in the test and vaccination center in Haar.
Dilemma: Doctors want to see a test, the test station needs a doctor's certificate
While the head of the Brandstaeter vaccination and test center alternately telephones the district office and the technical department responsible for the new software, he is attacked by disgruntled customers.
“Think about it,” yells an angry man who wanted to go to the doctor with symptoms and was allegedly not allowed in.
The doctor wanted to see a test.
The test station needs a certificate from the doctor.
Not the only dilemma that comes up today.
Not just a problem for the unvaccinated
An older lady feels the same way.
She stands there perplexed with her vaccination card, feels sick, is not allowed to see a doctor, and cannot take a test.
The new regulation for corona tests does not only pose problems for the unvaccinated - here in the communal test center only free tests are carried out for authorized persons.
"Personally, I understand you, but I can't help, I'm just a service provider," Brandstaeter tries to appease the man who has now become aggressive.
He would not understand that doctors send patients away - if it is true.
The angry man storms away with the words: "Then I'll just infect everyone if I am not allowed to test myself and cannot see a doctor."
Many parents with children have come to the test center
Many parents with their toddlers have also come to the test center - because without a test, so-called "cold children" are not allowed to go to daycare or kindergarten.
A quick test is feasible in this case, but some facilities apparently require a PCR test, for which the parents then need a confirmation from the daycare center.
Everything turns in circle.
Nobody really knows the details, not even specialists from medicine or the authorities.
The biggest problem is checking the respective credentials;
because there are many legal options - positive rapid test, invitation to a retirement home - but they can also be manipulated.
Many people also have technical problems with registration and the QR code or cannot understand the complicated rules due to language barriers.
The chargeable tests could, as a side effect, urge previously unvaccinated people to get vaccinated. "The strategy was deliberately chosen to increase the pressure to vaccinate," says Peter Aurnhammer, spokesman for the pharmacy association in the Munich district. But apparently the new regulation also makes life more difficult for people who have already been vaccinated twice - they too are increasingly faced with bureaucratic and technical hurdles when they need a test.
The new regulation can also put socially disadvantaged people in distress who do not want to be vaccinated.
If you don't have to worry about money, you can take a paid test more often.
The 3G plus rule (with PCR test), which is increasingly in force, is a question of money.
In his pharmacy in Ismaning, Peter Aurnhammer decided on the cheapest possible tests “to help people at least a little”.
Worry about increasing pressure
The medical director of the vaccination center in Unterschleißheim, Friedrich Kiener, is also concerned about the increasingly bad social climate.
"As a democrat, I think: Citizens have the right not to be vaccinated." If there is no compulsory vaccination, it is also not justifiable to exclude unvaccinated people from social life.
Who can be tested for free?
Corona tests are now chargeable.
However, not all population groups have to pay to take a rapid test or a PCR test.
Even if the Bavarian interpretation of the nationwide regulation is not yet entirely clear - the following groups of people are likely to have at least a temporary right to free testing against Covid-19:
1. Employees of care and disabled facilities (with employer certificate or entitlement certificate)
2. People with a positive rapid test
3. Visitors to care and handicapped facilities (with a permit)
4. Victims of an outbreak event (exemption from the quarantine obligation after five days)
5. First-degree contact persons named by the health department
6. So-called "cold children" up to six years of age, i.e. children who are suspected of having an infection (rapid test only)
7. Students with ID (quick test only until November 30th)
8. Vulnerable, i.e. non-vaccinable people (only rapid test), including those taking part in a Covid-19 study, pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy, children up to twelve years of age, and up to December 31st also adolescents up to 18 years of age.
9. People who are warned by their Corona warning app.
In addition, organizers can offer their guests free quick tests.
This does not have to be carried out by a doctor, but the person testing must have been trained by a doctor