"As a rule, only working people who need the PCR test for their sick leave now come," says the chairwoman of the Rhine-Sieg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) and a family doctor in Hennef, Jacqueline Hiepler. Many infected themselves now probably on vacation, and, if they have only mild symptoms, went away and not to the doctor. "That's why the situation in doctors' offices has eased somewhat," Hiepler said. He also said that in terms of staffing, they are now better supplied again, since most of the physicians and staff have now come out of infection with the coronavirus. "I don't know anyone anymore who hasn't had it," the chairwoman says.

Since there are no longer free citizen tests, the number of tests performed in the county has been cut in half again. 70 to 80,000 tests were performed per week in June, and only 38,344 last week. At the same time, the proportion of positive results is increasing, and now stands at 11.8 percent of tests. However, this can be explained by the fact that it is mainly people who already have symptoms who are being tested.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) currently recommends that chronically ill people and people over 60 be vaccinated a fourth time. Most of the vaccination inquiries in Hiepler's practice currently also come from these population groups, the family doctor says. "They're asking if they should wait for the adjusted vaccine," she reports. This is due in September, according to Biontech. Typically, people should wait six months after their last booster shot or after being infected with coronavirus. But for those who want to go on vacation now, for example, and then feel safer, or have other individual reasons for wanting additional protection, Hiepler recommends the fourth vaccination even now: "I don't see a problem with vaccinating everyone."

In the Rhine-Sieg district, this option can be taken, among other things, at the vaccination mobile, which drives to all municipalities in a three-week rhythm. In the last two weeks, according to the district, up to 80 percent more people have been vaccinated there than in the weeks before: 308 people in the mobile and 143 in the two stationary vaccination centers in Sankt Augustin and Meckenheim.

Nevertheless, the number of cases is currently also higher in the district than in the past two summers. And without contact restrictions and compulsory masking across the board, they are expected to rise even further in the fall. The district administration now wants to further optimize its software processes in order to record and transmit information on cases more quickly. For example, laboratory findings are now being transferred digitally. Gradually, this procedure will be expanded to include reports from test sites.

Jacqueline Hiepler recommends that people who have symptoms and test positive should continue to isolate themselves and visit a doctor's office if they have health complaints. Nevertheless, the KV chairwoman's position is that the aim should be to achieve an infection coverage in order to provide the entire population - including the unvaccinated - with antibodies. She sees the risk of provoking the emergence of further variants as marginal: "The variants will come anyway. Even if we do something different in Germany - we can't prevent that."

Original text: Rosanna Großmann

Translation: Mareike Graepel