Now it’s clear: Not everyone who tested positive with a rapid corona test should get a PCR test! And: The health ministers of the federal states are in favor of compulsory vaccination – apart from Bremen.
By Burkhard Uhlenbroich
At the conference (GMK) on Saturday with Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, the state ministers welcomed the introduction of facility-related compulsory vaccination for patients and nursing staff, according to BILD information.
Clear guidelines for implementation and transition periods are now needed. This is seen as the first step towards a general obligation to vaccinate, which should be decided as soon as possible.
Lauterbach presented new facts and figures:
► The height of the wave is expected to be reached on February 15; with a maximum load of 5000 intensive care beds and 400,000 cases per day as a maximum.
► But: There should be no tightening, but also no easing.
► The currently shortened convalescent status to three months is rather too long than short.
► Omicron is 85 percent less dangerous than Delta.
► According to a study in Israel, the protection factor for the fourth vaccination in nursing homes is only 60 percent.
When is a PCR test and when is a rapid test?
In order to counteract overloading of the capacities of the laboratories, testing should no longer be carried out using PCR for a red Corona warning app, but using a high-quality antigen test.
In addition, it should be checked whether a confirmation PCR test can be dispensed with if the antigen test result is positive without symptoms. Instead, a follow-up test should be carried out with a second antigen test from a different manufacturer. Likewise the free test from the quarantine.
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The laboratory capacities are finite, said Saxony-Anhalt’s Health Minister Petra Grimm-Benne in Magdeburg after the switching conference.
Staff in hospitals, medical practices and care facilities as well as high-risk patients and people at risk of serious illnesses should definitely have a PCR test. “Access to PCR tests should be retained. For all other people who have no symptoms and can show a positive antigen test result, confirmation by PCR should be dispensed with,” says Grimm-Benne.