You can read about overwhelmed health authorities everywhere. But even in November and December, when the corona infection numbers in the Main-Spessart district shot up rapidly, the health department wanted to quickly identify and contact people. At least that is what the press office of the District Office recently described to this editorial team. Ramona Reinhart from Hafenlohr does not want to leave that as it is. In her case, the timely follow-up in December “didn’t work at all,” says the 40-year-old. Nor is she surprised “that the numbers were so high at the time”.
Three days passed before the call came
Reinhart’s story begins a week before Christmas Eve. She said she was visiting a relative in Würzburg with her 9-year-old daughter. Two days later, she informed the Würzburg health department that the relative had tested positive for Corona ?? Ramona Reinhart and her little daughter had to be quarantined. They also had themselves tested and learned from the laboratory on December 22nd that they had become infected. So far everything went normally.
But then, according to Reinhart, three days passed. Finally, on Christmas Day, the Main-Spessart health department called to find out about her and her daughter’s contacts. She then sent an email with the contact lists to the authority on the same day, says Reinhart. And again time passed, this time for five days.
The clerk was on vacation
After her husband and older daughter ?? both were at the top of the contact lists? hadn’t received a call from the health department until then, asked Ramona Reinhart. At the authority she learned that the clerk was on vacation and had not passed on her case. “I should then send the two lists again.” Her work colleagues, who, like her, work in the health sector, had not yet been officially informed at this point, but Reinhart had already informed them himself.
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On the day she called the agency, her husband and elderly 11-year-old daughter were quarantined. The two were tested on January 4th. The result: he was meanwhile positive, the older daughter was not. “When we asked whether the older daughter should also be in quarantine as contact person 1, we were told by the health department that this was not necessary because she is probably immune,” reports Reinhart. This statement surprised the woman from Hafenlohr, but still kept her daughter at home for the time being.
In individual cases, the District Office does not rule out delays
What does the Main-Spessart District Office say about these allegations? “During the period mentioned, there were some transmission delays by the laboratories. In addition, very high numbers of cases and numerous outbreaks in various facilities in the Main-Spessart district were recorded in November and December 2020,” wrote Tina Starck, press spokeswoman for the authority, when asked Editorial staff.
At the same time, many new employees would have had to be trained quickly and at short notice in order to be able to cope with the high number of corona cases at all. “Delays in establishing contact could therefore not be ruled out in individual cases during this period,” admits Starck. So obviously in the case described.
No mess of paper
As an explanation for the fact that Ramona Reinhart had to send her contact list to the authorities twice, the press office emphasizes that the list “has not been lost”. Instead, the employee who originally requested the contact person list “inadvertently did not pass it on for processing immediately”. As a result, the authority requested the list again. What exactly was the reason remains unclear in this explanation. Ultimately, the authorities only reacted after Reinhart reported himself again five days later.
Analog lists or Excel tables, which are often brought up in media reports in connection with chaotic conditions in health authorities, are apparently not to blame. According to the press office, these are not used in the Main-Spessart health department for the recording of corona cases and contact tracking. “There is a digital recording of the cases.” In addition, the SORMAS program is currently in the introductory phase. Health authorities in Bavaria should actually use the software for contact tracking as early as February.
When are you considered immune?
When asked under what circumstances the health department assumes that a person could be immune, press spokeswoman Starck refers to the Robert Koch Institute. The authorities in Main-Spessart follow its recommendations. Until the beginning of 2021, it was therefore the case that people who had previously been infected with Corona were not re-grouped as contact persons, as immunity was assumed.
In the meantime, new infections are only considered so unlikely within three months that in some cases a new quarantine is not necessary. What is strange about it: Ramona Reinhart’s 11-year-old daughter was never infected before and still did not have to be quarantined.
After her experiences during the Christmas season, Ramona Reinhart is of the opinion that the employees of the health department should also work on weekends and holidays. “Unfortunately, we had a different impression,” she says. According to the district office, six employees, including a doctor, are currently busy tracking contacts and contacting cases that have tested positive.
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