Test centre instead of specialised trade The business with the tests in Bonn

Bonn · More and more service providers are offering Corona quick tests. Many of them are fully booked until Christmas.

 On Remigiusplatz, opposite the university, the company Medicare has opened a new speed test centre.

On Remigiusplatz, opposite the university, the company Medicare has opened a new speed test centre.

Foto: Andreas Baumann

Some might find it depressing, others the rules of the market - and for some the offer apparently comes just in time: While currently most shops in the city centre are forced to close due to the Corona pandemic and more and more shops permanently cease operations, a new industry is flourishing: More and more service providers offering Corona quick tests are currently shooting up. At least for the moment, the operators are proving to have good instincts, because the occupancy rate is almost 100 per cent shortly before Christmas.

Medicare Testzentrum, for example, is the name of the company that has been operating a shop on Remigiusplatz for a few days, which older Bonners still know as "Radio Uni". The branch in the federal city joins a dozen other locations all over Germany, and another ten are currently planned, according to the company's website. Appointments on the days leading up to Christmas were still available on Monday afternoon. And there seem to be hardly any limits on shop opening hours either, so the quick test for 39.90 euros is also available on Sundays from 10 am to 7 pm. With up to six booths, the Bonn location has a capacity of over 800 tests daily. For the more reliable PCR lab test, it takes up to 48 hours.

Local players have also recognised the gap in the market

But local players have also recognised the gap in the market. Over the Christmas holidays, for example, the Bonn Physio Zentrum, located on Bornheimer Straße, is also available for the SARS-CoV-2 rapid tests for 45 euros. Here, too, appointments can be made by phone or via the internet. Doctors carry out the test, and those tested receive their results within 20 minutes - either directly on site or, if desired, by text message. In addition to doctors' surgeries, the medical laboratory CBT Zentrum Am Probsthof and a medical centre in Bornheim, for example, also offer the test.

According to its own information, the rapid test centre, which the company CoviMedical set up last Friday in the Brückenforum, will have more than 2000 customers. Their cooperation partner on site is the Bonn concert organiser Sandro Heinemann, who in "normal life" organises, for example, the Panama Open Air Festival in the Rheinaue and takes care of all the logistics in the Brückenforum. The demand was "almost a little stronger than calculated", he reported on Monday, looking back on the weekend. The festival was already fully booked and therefore an additional smear booth was set up. The Bridge Forum will also be tested on 25 and 26 December, while all appointments for 23 December and Christmas Eve have already been booked. The allocation of appointments to avoid queues has proved successful, Heinemann says. "Now and then customers are late, then there can be shorter waiting times of five to ten minutes," he reports.

Incidentally, Heinemann is not allowed to say how many people his colleagues have tested positive for the virus so far for reasons of data protection. However, he expressly does not deny that positive cases have also come to light in the Brückenforum in recent days. For this situation, the instructions are clear: the personal details of those affected will be passed on to the health authorities immediately. Heinemann says that his own profit from the business is limited when asked about the margins on the tests. He receives a "service fee" from the nationally active partner company. The whole thing is "not a sensational business", says Heinemann, especially since the expense is quite high. As long as the demand is noticeable, he will continue to provide the service.

Original text: Rüdiger Franz

Translation: Mareike Graepel

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