Some people turned away from Covid test sites this morning

Some commercial Covid-19 testing companies turned away people referred by health service GGD on Friday morning. They have a conflict with the health service about how many - how few to be exact - people are being referred to them, AD reports after speaking with the test providers. 

The commercial test providers collaborate with the GGDs because the health services reached their maximum capacity of 150,000 tests per day. The high number of infections caused by the extra contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus means that people sometimes have to wait two days or drive 100 kilometers to get tested by the GGD. So they agreed that the GGDs would refer people they couldn't test to commercial providers affiliated with Testing for Access.

"But that hardly happened. Yesterday there were hardly any bookings. We don't feel taken seriously," Jeroen de Jong of Spoettestcorona said to AD. "In the meantime,  we incur the organization costs because we are paid per test. We want to help, but I need to be able to pay my bills at the end of the month." He, therefore, decided not to help the GGD on Friday. 

AD got similar statements from Covid Test Nederland, who tested only 37 people sent by the GGD in two days. According to the newspaper, the agreement was that people would be sent to the commercial providers if the GGDs couldn't test them within 12 hours. But in reality, they're only referred if they can't get an appointment within 48 hours.

The commercial test companies are still open for Testing for Access and to test people who want to travel abroad. They're only turning away people sent by the GGD, the newspaper wrote. 

The GGD and the Open Netherlands Foundation, which organizes Testing for Acces and coordinated this deal, could not be reached for comment, AD wrote.