Corona crisis Test centres in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis not working to capacity

Rhein-Sieg district · The situation in the district is stable, the load is decreasing, the start of school went well: District Administrator Sebastian Schuster and his colleagues were cautiously optimistic at their regular crisis press conference. The infection pressure has even dropped to such an extent that the Hennef test centre is now in a standby state.

 Soon only on standby? The test centre in Hennef is designed as a drive-in and is currently underutilised.

Soon only on standby? The test centre in Hennef is designed as a drive-in and is currently underutilised.

Foto: Ingo Eisner

The test centres in the Rhein-Sieg district are far from working to capacity. Therefore, the drive-in one in Hennef could only be kept on standby in the future. This was announced by District Administrator Sebastian Schuster on Tuesday at the district's press conference on the Corona crisis.

It is still undecided when exactly there will be more cutbacks for the time being. This might possibly be the case from 1 May, said Rainer Dahm, head of the Office for Civil Protection. The test centres in Siegburg and Rheinbach will remain in operation.

No routine tests in nursing homes yet

It is also not yet clear when the nationwide routine tests in nursing homes and mobile care services will start. "We are still working on a concept," said Schuster. "Unfortunately there has been a setback."

For example, the district administration was convinced that the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenärztliche Vereinigung) would assume the costs for the prophylactic tests of nursing staff and residents according to initial statements.

Health insurance companies do not cover costs

But the health insurance companies have rowed back, according to the District Administrator. "There are now negotiations at the state level. It's unfortunate for us because we're ready to get started."

However, tests are naturally carried out for infections in old people's homes. According to Schuster, at different times there has been corona infections in about 15 old people's homes in the district. In six or seven of them this is no longer the case.

Focus on the development of the reproductive rate

According to Schuster, the situation in the district is still stable. "Thank God the stress has been somewhat reduced in the last few days." As of Tuesday evening, 1165 people in the Rhein-Sieg district have so far tested positive for the novel coronavirus - ten more than on Monday.

224 are currently infected with Sars-CoV-2, 901 are considered to have recovered. 40 people have died of Covid-19. It remains to be seen, however, according to Schuster, how the reproduction rate develops.

Vocational school started with 960 students

According to the Robert Koch Institute, it had risen slightly on Monday and was at 1, on Tuesday it was 0.9 again, "If it continued to rise, to 1.3 or 1.4, that would certainly be very worrying," said the District Administrator.

According to Thomas Wagner, head of the schools department, the start of school after the lockdown got off to a good start - despite the very short preparation time. The district is responsible for four vocational colleges and eight special schools.

According to Günther Au, headmaster of the Carl-Reuther-Berufskolleg in Hennef and spokesman for the three other vocational colleges in the district, a total of about 10,000 students are taught at the vocational colleges. 2,800 of these fell into the group of those who are now allowed to go back to school.

The operation started last Thursday with 960 students who are about to take their exams. This number will now be gradually increased.

However, all 2800 will not be able to be taught at present, according to Hans Clasen, head of the Office for School and Education Coordination. Only 75 percent of the teachers are in school, the rest belong to the at-risk group.

In order to keep the distance, the pupils of the individual classes are divided into several rooms, in each of which either a wash basin or hand disinfectant is available. A daily cleaning is agreed upon with the cleaning companies, in which also all tables as well as hand contact surfaces are disinfected, said Clasen.

When the special needs schools will start, is uncertain meanwhile. There is still no clear decree on this. "We only know that the special schools with a focus on mental development are to remain closed for a longer period of time," said head of the school department Wagner, as the children kept less distance and often had pre-existing conditions. Wagner: "We hope for clarity for the others on Thursday."

(Original text: Hannah Schmitt. Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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