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Hildburghausen in Thuringia is currently the hotspot with the highest infection rate in Germany
Photo: Ronald Wittek / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
So far, only a few positive cases have been found in the broad-based corona tests in Hildburghausen.
Six of around 900 rapid antigen tests have so far been positive, said District Administrator Thomas Müller (CDU) on the second day of mass testing in the Thuringian district.
At this point in time, however, no serious statement can be made about a possible number of unreported cases.
Hildburghausen is a corona hotspot in Germany.
With up to 630 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, the southern Thuringian district was the region in Germany with the highest incidence for days.
The value continued to decline on Tuesday and, according to the Ministry of Health, was still a very high 519 infections.
Müller expressed concern about the diffuse spread of the corona virus in Hildburghausen: »We had the first corona case on March 20.
About seven months later we had the 100th case, ”he said.
"So we were almost free of corona the whole summer, and then the mail suddenly went off, since the end of October." There are now more than 2000 cases.
"That worries us."
The frequency of infection among kindergarten and school children and their supervisors in Hildburghausen is to be determined by means of rapid antigen tests until Friday.
A total of around 11,000 such tests are available.
According to District Administrator Müller, 25 cleaning teams are out and about at various locations in Hildburghausen.
How many people volunteer to be tested is uncertain.
According to the Thuringian Ministry of Health, around 3,000 people have registered so far.
According to the Ministry of Health, the campaign, which is unique so far, started on Tuesday in the "Werraspatzen" kindergarten.
This is intended to enable the reopening of the kindergartens and schools, which have been closed since November 25th after the sharp increase in the number of infections.
The German Red Cross, the Technical Relief Organization and the German Armed Forces provide support with the tests.
How many children, young people, teachers, educators and employees use the quick tests offered was initially open.
Their use is also controversial, not all local politicians in the district support the action.
Broad mass tests of asymptomatic people can help to get an overview of the infection rate in the population.
However, the rapid antigen tests used are not as reliable as PCR tests.
Up to ten percent of those infected are not detected because the antigen tests are particularly effective in people who are very infectious.
If you test a person too early, for example, the test could turn out negative - even though they carry the virus and could possibly become contagious shortly afterwards.
It therefore depends on the time of the test: the quick tests should actually be carried out several times at intervals of a few days.
This is not planned in Hildburghausen for the time being.
Rapid antigen tests only snapshot
In addition, a report in the New York Times suggests that the rapid antigen tests may not work as well in people under the age of 16 as they do in adults.
Accordingly, some study results indicate that infected children and adolescents are less reliably detected with these tests.
However, the current data are not yet sufficient to be able to make a definitive statement.
The Thuringian Minister of Health Heike Werner (Die Linke) is aware that the mass tests are only a snapshot.
"We also want to see what role kindergartens and schools play in the spread," she said.
"Based on the numbers we have so far, they seem to be safe places - now let's see whether there is a significantly high number of unreported cases." The students and teachers who tested negative for the antigen test could also go back to go to school.
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kry / dpa
