The Vice President of the Robert Koch Institute is against routine coronate tests for Bundesliga professionals. Instead, certain conditions should apply.
Lars Schaade, Vice President of the Robert Koch Institute, is very sceptical about the planned coronavirus tests in the Bundesliga.
“I do not see why certain population groups, whether they are athletes – one can think of anything else that might have a certain social interest – should be routinely screened,” Schaade said at the RKI press conference in Berlin.
He pleaded for coronavirus tests to be used for “medical indications”. This means that if a reason for the use of a therapeutic or diagnostic measure is appropriate for a certain clinical picture
In this case, a professional footballer could be tested. “If he has a medical indication, gladly. If he is part of an outbreak, then so is he,” explained Schaade. In general, the RKI vice president commented on the testing problem in the Bundesliga: “This is a difficult question.”
20,000 coronate tests in the Bundesliga?
After almost two months of corona time, the Bundesliga could continue its season from 9 May. This date was brought up for discussion on Monday by Premier Markus Söder (Bavaria) and Armin Laschet (North Rhine-Westphalia). Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn also spoke of a “piece of normality, even if in an empty stadium”.
It is under discussion that Bundesliga players are regularly tested for the corona virus. The DFL is apparently considering testing players, coaches and members of the functional teams for corona every three days with a quick test to guarantee safety in possible ghost games. By the end of the season, this would probably result in about 20,000 tests.
At the moment, the laboratories in Germany can carry out about 730,000 of these tests per week, according to the Robert Koch Institute. However, the grand coalition has planned a significant increase in the near future.