There is a lack of staff – because of Corona: Styrian authorities are broadcasting SOS

District authorities and the magistrate can no longer keep up with the processing of the corona cases because of the increase. Styrians therefore wait days for their test results and notifications.

“If an infected person was only at home and has their Green Passport on hand, the phone call lasts a minute. On average, however, it is up to 20 minutes, ”describes Martin Schemeth from the Province of Styria, describing the time-consuming Corona service. The staff has been upgraded for weeks, but the increasing number of cases is simply not being met. As a result, Styrians sometimes wait days for their test results and notifications.

Around 70 people are currently working full-time in contact tracing across the country, and 40 assistance workers from the armed forces are to be added next week. This does not include the staff of the individual district authorities. There you will again be supported by the country’s central Corona service pool.

According to Eva Winter, head of the Graz health department, it is simply not possible to provide for staff. There would be nothing to be done outside of these rush hours. In addition, it would be difficult to find suitable staff, “and training costs additional time”. Long waiting times are therefore only the logical consequence. “But the test evaluation alone takes 24 hours,” explains Winter.

The data is imported into the system every two hours and then processed. “You can imagine what that means with 1,000 new infections per day.” “If you double the numbers, twice as much is best.”

The virus also keeps BH Deutschlandsberg on its toes. Sabine Berger, interim head of the district: “Corona is 60 percent of our workload. Nevertheless, we cannot skip a driver’s license withdrawal. It was easier in lockdown because there was no more work. ”She understands the displeasure in the absence of modesty, but adds:“ Our day only has 24 hours! ”
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