Karl-Friedrich Frese: "End of the test regulation now irresponsible".

The end of the testing regulation on 31 March is irresponsible and should be withdrawn immediately, according to Karl Frese, First District Commissioner and Head of the Health Department. "At a time when we have to register record numbers of new corona infections on a daily basis, this step is no longer rationally understandable," Frese said. "The result will be a chaotic situation that we cannot have in any case".

In Waldeck-Frankenberg, the imminent expiry of the testing ordinance has already had consequences. The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenärztliche Vereinigung) has already terminated the rental contract for the test centre in the industrial area of Korbach and stopped testing. As things stand, only registered doctors are left to carry out the PCR tests, which, among other things, also decide on the duration of isolation or quarantine in connection with a Corona disease. However, in the opinion of the head of the health department, this cannot work.

"Time and again there have been warnings of an overload of the health system in connection with the pandemic; now such an overload scenario is being brought about almost negligently", fears Frese. "Doctors in private practice cannot absorb the demand for PCR testing, because even these practices have already reached the limit of what is reasonable after 2 years of the pandemic".

The First District Councillor has turned to the Hessian District Association with the problem and hopes that the municipal umbrella organisation can once again bring about an extension of the test ordinance in a concerted action across the Länder. He appealed to the KV not to create a fait accompli, but to keep open the option of a quick recommissioning of the test centre.