According to the state health minister, old people’s and nursing homes are “hot spots” in the corona pandemic. Now the state government wants to better protect the residents, a corresponding regulation will apply from Monday.
The Baden-Württemberg state government wants to increase infection protection in old people’s and nursing homes. From Monday, a so-called extended test obligation for employees will come into force, as the state government announced. Visitors and “external third parties” should also be tested.
A corresponding regulation has been included in the corona regulation decided by the cabinet and announced on Saturday, said state health minister Manfred Lucha (Greens). Accordingly, the care facilities must in future offer visitors and external persons quick tests. Institutions that are unable to procure them at short notice could obtain the tests from the country’s emergency reserve, the minister said.
Test obligation: Exceptions for emergency doctors
The expansion of the testing requirement for staff is also new. The employees would now have to be tested three times a week instead of two times, with exceptions, for example for emergency doctors. “The pandemic still has a firm grip on the country. That is why we must continue to protect older people as well as possible, as infections are more severe and often fatal for them,” said the state health minister. Retirement and nursing homes are “hot spots” of the corona pandemic.
According to the Minister, 140 corona outbreaks in nursing homes have been reported to the State Health Office since mid-December 2020. According to the information, a total of 2,545 people were infected with corona, 190 of them died.
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