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While some cantons have lost their contact tracing out of control, people in Thurgau are stubbornly attached to it. The situation in his canton is demanding, but you have it under control, stressed the health director Urs Martin (41) at a press conference.
In a national comparison, Thurgau is considered a model student. Martin attributes this to the good cooperation with the Thurgau Lung League, which operates the canton’s call center. It was possible to increase capacities quickly.
Martin says: “There are cantons that have not invested enough resources in contact tracing.” On Wednesday, the Thurgau tracking team consisted of a total of 93 people. It should be increased to more than 100 people in the next 24 hours.
30 to 40 francs hourly wage
Most of the contact tracers work from an industrial building in Felben-Wellhausen TG. One of them is Conny Dolpp (41). He returned to Switzerland from Cuba in the summer because he had lost his job in tourism due to Corona. He’s been back to work since October, thanks mostly to Corona.
“It changed very quickly here. At first we were able to handle cases from A to Z, but now we have had to divide ourselves into departments to be able to handle cases more quickly, ”says Dolpp.
The hourly wage in the call center is between 30 and 40 francs. We work two shifts. Finding the contact persons for individual index cases is sometimes like detective work. It is about breaking chains of infection and helping to reduce the number of cases again.
Contact trackers work with laptops and personal cell phones
On weekends, when municipalities are closed, the cantonal tax administration even provides the mobile phone numbers that the interested parties have provided in their tax returns. The procedure was approved by the data protection officer.
Also special: contact trackers work with your own mobile phones and computers. Thurgau canton only offers free internet access. This saves costs and has the advantage that the devices are not moved by multiple hands.
Contact tracker Conny Dolpp admits that growing numbers would depress them, too. And there are also difficult moments: “I had a man’s son on the phone who had to go to the hospital. He feared for his father. That will get you far! “
The hotline handles 1700 calls a day
Team leader Berkant Demirkiran (23) also goes to work diligently. “I try to stay calm and not let the growing number of cases stress me out,” says the budding business IT specialist. “It’s about educating people and accompanying them during the quarantine.”
Due to the sharp increase, Thurgau residents also had to make cuts recently. Tightly united support is no longer possible, due to around 1700 calls per day. More recently, however, waiting times were reduced, in some cases as long as four days.
Contact tracing as a key to relaxation
Returnees from risk areas are no longer contacted as they normally know the entry requirements. At the same time, those responsible are calling on the population to adhere to quarantine rules and report contact persons. This is the only way contact tracing can develop its effect.
Government Councilor Urs Martin highlights: “It is very important to us that we can soon loosen the measures taken. This is only possible with active contact tracing. “
