The health authorities faced a mountain of work due to the corona pandemic. A decrease in the number of cases should actually bring relief. But the offices are also demanding new tasks – and the infections are also increasing again.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – According to the district council, the health authorities in Baden-Württemberg are still very busy. In addition to the burden of processing corona cases, the reason for this is that several new tasks have been added, said a spokesman for the municipal association in Stuttgart.
This includes, for example, checking measles protection. By July 31, parents with their children and employees in daycare centers or doctor’s offices must provide proof of a measles vaccination. Due to more births in the country, the employees of the offices are currently also busy with numerous school enrollment examinations. The digitization of offices is also progressing. This initially means a lot of time for the introduction of new systems.
When the number of corona cases fell in the spring, the health authorities tried to catch up on some of their many other tasks, the spokesman said. But the number of corona cases in the southwest has been increasing again since the end of May. Most recently, the number of new infections within seven days and per 100,000 inhabitants (seven-day incidence) was more than 800 nationwide. In several urban and rural districts, the authorities even recorded an incidence of more than 1000.
However, the incidence does not adequately reflect the course of infection. Experts have been assuming for some time that there has been a high number of unrecorded cases – mainly because not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only positive PCR tests count in the statistics.