Due to the recent easing of the corona measures, the obligation to present a negative test result has already been lifted in many areas – for example in gastronomy, retail and sports. Because both the incidence of the city and that of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is currently stable below 35. There are 792 test sites throughout the city. Around 118,000 corona tests could be carried out there every day. But is such a high number still in demand? It is unclear. At the moment, those responsible for the city and the country are unable to make any statements about how many people get tested in Cologne every day. The reason: technical maintenance work in the corona antigen test reporting portal.
In principle, every test center is obliged to transmit the relevant data to the State Ministry of Health using the online portal. But this process was no longer possible after June 10th – and has only been again since Monday evening. Now the test centers have to report their data from the past few days. So far, the city has not had any plausible figures, according to a spokesman.
Although the health department received figures from the test centers by email, on June 11th – the day on which the easing came into force due to a stable incidence of below 35 – only 3,538 Cologne residents had an antigen test get tested for the virus. “Such a small number is unlikely,” says the city spokesman. For comparison: According to the ministry, almost 65,000 rapid tests were carried out in Cologne on June 10th.
Head of the Cologne health department warns
It is unclear whether the respective number of tests carried out can be assigned to the corresponding days in retrospect. When asked by the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”, the state was unable to provide an answer. So it could be that a transparent overview will be missing. And that at exactly the time when a decline in the number of tests is to be expected. “The less we know, the more worried we have to worry. Especially when I see how many people are out and about, ”says Johannes Nießen, head of the health department.
Because if fewer people get tested, it is likely that fewer people infected with the coronavirus, who may have an asymptomatic course and thus do not notice anything about their infection, will be identified. Nießen therefore hopes that “the return to normality and the repeal of individual rules will not let us slip too far into a fourth wave”.
The current situation is different compared to last summer. 53 percent of Cologne residents have now received a first vaccination, and every fourth person is fully vaccinated. “That’s a good sign. And sun and warm temperatures are also not good for the virus, ”said Nießen. If a little less testing is now carried out, it is not necessarily harmful. However, it is important to continue to follow up contacts intensively and to ensure that the test is mandatory in certain areas: for example, at indoor events such as clubs, theaters and cinemas.
City of Cologne controls private corona test sites
Therefore, the city will not reduce the test offer, but stick to the existing test sites. The city administration would like to have all private offers – there are around 350 of them across the city – inspected in the next four weeks. That’s what Nießen announced last week. Among other things, the health department will monitor compliance with hygiene regulations and the execution of the tests.
The city has already taken a close look at 157 test sites. Sometimes this is sorely needed. In the event of serious misconduct, the city can order that operations must be stopped, which has already happened in individual cases. For example, the city has already closed a drive-in test site in Bilderstöckchen twice due to hygienic deficiencies, the administration said. In the meantime they are being tested again there.
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