During the past week and a half, everything went wrong with the reporting of the corona contamination figures. For example, on four of the past seven days, the picture was distorted. This was due to errors causing the number of reported tests to be too low, and to catching up the next day when overdue infections were reported. And then there was a problem last week at a number of GGDs, which caused infections to arrive later.
Nevertheless, there is no structural problem with the registration of the infections, the GGD declares. “These are three different problems that have occurred recently,” says spokesman Sonja Kloppenburg of the umbrella organization of GGDs.
In two cases it concerned an ICT malfunction. On Saturday, a computer system was down that connects two important systems: the computer system in which test appointments and results are recorded, and the systems for source and contact research. It is the source and contact investigators who pass a positive test on to RIVM, so if they cannot pass it on, the reports will not reach RIVM either. “The system connecting those two programs was down for a few hours,” says Kloppenburg.
Yesterday it went wrong again, but then with the system for the source and contact investigation itself. “It beeps and it creaks. The system was once intended for at most dozens of people working in it at the same time, but there are now 4,000. We now train 500 source and contact researchers every week, and apparently this was the point at which the system couldn’t take anymore. ” Last night the system was made suitable for larger numbers.
And then there was also a regional problem, in which some GGDs reported a lower number of infections, which they had to catch up later. That led to hundreds of positive tests of correction. That was a human error, and not an ICT malfunction, according to the GGD. That mistake came about because people can now view their test results themselves. By mistake, a number of source and contact researchers did not send these tests to RIVM.
The confusion of figures only affected the positive tests: as far as known there were no problems with the figures from the hospitals or the reported deaths.
Decision
The confusion comes at an awkward time, especially as everyone is watching the numbers in the hope of improvement. The problems also caused frustration in the cabinet, says political reporter Lars Geerts. “People did roll their eyes. But for political decision-making, we look at the weekly figures.”
In any case, the daily figures can fluctuate, for a variety of reasons. For example, infection numbers are growing faster on Wednesdays than on weekends. And if a GGD submits overdue positive tests, for example because they had previously been forgotten, they are all reported as new tests.
Then there is also a structural delay. On average, according to the RIVM, there are almost three days between the moment someone takes a test and the moment the RIVM reports the positive test.
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It’s complicated to say, is it stable, increasing, or declining?
In the House of Representatives, Jaap van Dissel, head of infectious disease control at RIVM, also commented this week on the infection rate. According to him, people can now be tested faster than before, with the result that people are less likely to drop out because they no longer have to wait long at a test location. That may lead to more positive tests.
“It is really complicated to say: is it stable, is it increasing or is it decreasing? We are currently facing that dilemma,” says Van Dissel.