Criticism voiced by the head of an employer in North Rhine-Westphalia over the digitalization of health departments

In an interview published in the Friday edition of the "Cologne City-Anzeiger" newspaper, Arndt Kirchhoff, the president of the employers' association NRW, voiced his criticism towards the administration's handling of the corona pandemic, specifically in relation to the current state of the corona app and its connection with the health authorities.

Kirchhoff, who owns an automotive supply company, expressed the need for perspectives and praised politics for working on an exit strategy. However, he criticized the update to the corona app, which was introduced with a manual diary in December, for not being digitally integrated with the health authorities. He finds the addition of a manual diary to the app "nearly grotesque."

The authorities involved with the Corona-App project include the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), and other public health bodies like the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The digital connection between the app project and these authorities is established through secure data exchange infrastructure that ensures data protection and integration with public health systems.

Kirchhoff's criticism is directed at the health authorities for not being consistently digitalized and networked. He believes that data protection should not be prioritized over health protection in the context of the corona app update. His statements highlight the current state of digitization in the public sector.

In addition to an app for tracing infection chains, Kirchhoff called for an early easing of the lockdown, not about the overall handling of the corona pandemic, but rather about the need for a clear exit strategy. His call for an early easing of the lockdown was made in the context of the need for perspectives.

The president of the employers' association NRW, Arndt Kirchhoff, has been a vocal critic of the administration's handling of the corona pandemic, a year after the outbreak of the pandemic. His criticism was made a year after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Criticism voiced by the head of an employer in North Rhine-Westphalia over the digitalization of health departments