The Thuringian state government does without a nationwide corona early warning system. The Free State’s Scientific Pandemic Advisory Board had already proposed the test concept six months ago. It had been reported nationwide. According to MDR THÜRINGEN information, the state had finally planned around 20 million euros of the Corona special fund for a period of one year. Initially, a pilot phase in Jena was planned.
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Money to prepare the corona vaccinations
Now the Ministry of Health is surprisingly refraining from setting up the corona early warning system. At the request of MDR THÜRINGEN, Ministry spokeswoman Silke Fließ speaks of “strategic and financial reasons”. The “major part” of the financial resources made available for combating Covid-19 would now be required to prepare the corona vaccinations. The money will be used for transport and storage of the vaccines, for vaccination accessories and the establishment of vaccination centers and mobile teams.
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In schools and nursing homes, the early warning system approach will be replaced by comprehensive rapid antigen tests. Thus, a precautionary test system is now being used that enables rapid test results without laboratory effort.
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Early warning system relies on more precise PCR tests
The chairman of the scientific corona advisory board of the state government, Petra Dickmann from the Jena University Hospital, told MDR THÜRINGEN that she did not think so much about the antigen tests because the results were not so reliable, especially with regard to asymptomatic infected people.
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The proposed early warning system, on the other hand, relies on the more precise PCR laboratory tests. The concept is suitable for early detection of regional infections and also includes those infected without symptoms.
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Corona analyzes of wastewater in Thuringia
The early warning system provided for weekly corona tests in a fixed number at defined, sensitive locations, such as schools, nursing homes and companies throughout Thuringia. In order to save laboratory capacity, samples from ten people should first be analyzed together. Only with a positive PCR test result should individual tests have been carried out. The Jena University Hospital has presented the state with a 30-page concept for implementing the early warning system. It also provides for wastewater analyzes to determine regional corona focuses.
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The chairman of the advisory board, Petra Dickmann, compared the system with a “motion detector” that makes increasing numbers of infections visible even before a place becomes an infection hotspot. This means that countermeasures could be taken earlier. The state government has apparently not yet communicated the end of the early warning system. Dickmann told MDR THÜRINGEN that, unfortunately, she could not yet say how the early warning system was going. That is “a very, very shame, especially against the background of the second Corona wave”.
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