Laumann defends planned prioritization of PCR tests

Created: 2022-01-25Updated: 2022-01-25, 12:45 p.m

Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU), Health Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.

© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa

PCR tests are considered particularly safe.

With the omicron wave, however, the laboratories are now reaching their limits when it comes to rapid evaluation, as the NRW Minister of Health states.

He believes that priority should be given to the medical field.

According to NRW Minister of Health Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU), with the steeply rising omicron wave, the laboratory capacities for rapid results in the PCR tests are reaching their limits. "If you have to assume that we currently have around 20,000 new infections a day, then we don't have the testing capacity for that," Laumann said in a WDR5 interview on Tuesday. There is no lack of technology or material in the laboratories. The capacities are limited by the available staff.

Laumann thus defended plans that employees in the health and care sector should be given priority nationwide for the PCR tests, which are considered particularly safe. Fast test results are particularly important in these areas because infections and staff shortages are also to be feared here. Laumann pointed out that the number of corona patients in the NRW hospitals had increased by more than 700 in a weekly comparison. Details on the prioritization of the PCR tests would be laid down in a federal regulation.

The federal and state governments decided on Monday to increase the capacity for PCR tests.

It was noted that in the event of bottlenecks, it is essential to prioritize.

The countries took note of the decision by the Conference of Health Ministers to focus the limited availability of PCR tests on particularly vulnerable groups and on workers who care for and treat them.

These are the staff in particular in hospitals, in practices, in nursing, in integration aid facilities and for people at risk of serious illnesses.

In these cases, a suspected corona infection should be further clarified by a PCR test.

Likewise, PCR tests are to be used for high-risk patients in order to enable early treatment.

After the federal-state round of talks, the North Rhine-Westphalia Association of Pharmacists is demanding that in future only test centers run by doctors or pharmacies be allowed to officially test citizens.

"The planned prioritization of the PCR tests and reduced contact tracing by the health authorities means more responsibility for the citizen test centers," said association head Thomas Preis of the "Rheinische Post" (Tuesday).

Positive rapid test results would then also have to be the basis for the official documentation of a corona infection in order to obtain a recovered status after the infection has been overcome.

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"This responsibility can only be taken on by medical practices and pharmacies," he says.

Proper isolation of infected people and quarantine of contact persons can only be guaranteed with professional advice.

dpa