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The number of cases in Aargau has increased sixfold in two weeks: from 43 to 255 cases per day. The Contact Tracing Center (Conti) can no longer contact all sick people and their contact persons immediately. That is why civil guards will be used in contact tracing from Friday, as announced on Wednesday by the Department of Health and Social Affairs (DGS). The Civil Guards were already helping in May when the Conti started working, and it was four times smaller than today.
Canton doctor Yvonne Hummel has decided to take more steps to make contact tracing more efficient. At the moment, infected people are supposed to inform their close contacts in a first step. Contact trackers re-prioritize based on medical urgency: anyone who has anything to do with nursing homes, schools or social institutions is contacted first. Until further notice, you will not verify any breach of the obligation to report. Maximum call duration for phone contacts is reduced and quarantine disposition is simplified. Clarifications on infection outbreaks will continue as before.
“Individuals may not be able to be reached in a timely manner,” Hummel said Monday. This will continue to apply until the measures take effect. In addition, the population must reduce the number of contacts so that the spread of the pandemic slows down.
Only 0.2 contact persons per crown box
Contact tracker overload has led to the grotesque situation that almost as many sick people are isolated as contact people are quarantined. The curves have converged over the last week. Thursday should be even more isolated.
In the summer, contact trackers sent an average of three to five contact persons to quarantine for every confirmed corona case. This value fell already in August. A first sign of overload, because the canton had not changed the criteria. People are unlikely to have less direct contact.
At the end of September, more contacts had to be quarantined again. That was exactly when the number of corona cases dropped. The contact markers had a bit more air, but only for a short time. With the second wave, the quarantine quota quickly reached the basement. This week there are 0.2 contact persons for each corona case. This means: One contact person only needs to be quarantined for every fifth person who tests positive.
