Positive cases are only counted once. However, a false report claiming multiple counts is currently spreading on Facebook.
The claim has been made and shared in several Facebook posts since the end of January that in a retirement home in Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, 18 residents who tested positive for Corona were reported to the responsible health department every day. This means that the statistics are allegedly artificially distorted by counting cases multiple times.
The source given is the statement of a supposed employee who is said to have said, among other things, that this was done on “orders”.
However, there is no evidence of such an event. In fact, there is a lot to be said against it, as an AFP fact check has already found.
In Germany, the cases are recorded by the RKI and published in a daily situation report such as on the institute's dashboard The RKI receives the information from the health authorities, to whom positive cases must be reported. According to the RKI website, the report is then usually passed on by the health authorities within one working day.
Names are recorded after a positive test result and therefore cannot be counted multiple times
AFP asked about the possibility of such a situation and received the following answer from a spokeswoman: "The health authorities have the name of the infected person, so any follow-up tests will of course not be counted multiple times."
The local health department for Überlingen also told AFP: “It is wrong that these cases are counted cumulatively. Every initial report is registered as an index case at the health department and reported to the state health department. Further test results from this person will of course be assigned to this case and will NOT be reported to the state health department as a new case of infection.”
This means that it can be ruled out that cases are counted multiple times, as the person concerned is always recorded by name. The spokeswoman for the German Professional Association for Nursing Professions Southwest (DBfK) also told AFP that she had not received any information about an alleged case in a nursing home in Überlingen.
President Bernd Meuerer of the Federal Association of Private Providers of Social Services (bpa) also pointed out the following to AFP: “Any other counting method would be pointless because in a relatively short period of time the number of supposedly infected people would significantly exceed the number of places.”
In response to AFP's request to the Baden-Württemberg State Health Authority, a spokeswoman confirmed again that cases could not be counted multiple times.
Even with multiple tests, the transmission of names prevents multiple counting. If the person were to become ill again, the reinfection would be checked by the health department before it was included in the statistics as a new case.
The claims circulating on Facebook are therefore false. in a Facebook post it is already used in a video by the self-proclaimed “Corona Committee”. This group consists of corona skeptics who, in meeting streams lasting several hours, declare the federal government's measures and assessments of the virus to be disproportionate.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )