Christian Becht is extremely suspicious of people who like to make phone calls.

In his private life he tries to avoid phone calls altogether.

Professionally, this is not possible.

On the contrary.

Becht has been pushing telephone services since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Eight, nine, sometimes ten hours a day, sometimes even on weekends.

The hygiene inspector, who actually works in the field, has switched to the office.

Marie Lisa Kehler

Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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His number is always dialed when a corona outbreak has been registered in a school or kindergarten. Becht then goes through the next steps with the callers, often the heads of the facility. Very few people know that the man who gives instructions at the end of the line actually checks in normal life whether hygiene regulations are being adhered to in nail salons and tattoo shops or whether the water quality in swimming pools can withstand all tests. For them he is just "Mr. Becht". And whenever you have spoken to Mr. Becht, you have work to do. After more than 20 months of the pandemic, the nerves of many callers are on edge. Becht sometimes gets the frustration that school or daycare managers feel in view of the constantly changing legal situation. Then he is very happythat the telephone maintains a certain distance.

“The tone towards us is not always entirely appropriate,” he says. But that is more the exception than the rule, the forty-three-year-old hurries to say. If he hangs up, the phone usually rings again a few seconds later. Becht is sitting in the same room with two other colleagues. It has become tight in the health department. Because almost all colleagues who, like him, actually cover a completely different field of work, are deployed in case management. A phone is always ringing somewhere, someone is always talking. Sometimes, when the phone doesn't stand still, the cases don't seem to be less but more with every hour, he wishes more than ever to go back to his pre-Corona everyday life. When he was out and about throughout the city in the morning,to check compliance with hygiene regulations in different facilities and shops. "Now I'm nailed here to the desk."

"The bare essentials are still being done"

Another call.

This time the advice is quick.

Something like routine seems to have returned to the other end of the line as well.

The facility managers have been given a direct line to Becht and his colleagues from the school and daycare team so that they can get in touch with a contact person from the health department as quickly as possible in the event of an outbreak.

In the meantime, however, the number has already been shared many times.

Concerned parents also call.

The phone rings again. Once, twice, Becht picks up the phone. The same questions are often asked of him. In the evening, when he leaves the office after such a day, he gets on his bike. He has to work out, clear his head. “It doesn't leave us who work here without a trace. When you've done that for nine hours a day, you don't want to talk much in the evening. ”He's someone who took up the job of hygiene inspector because he didn't want to sit in the office all the time. He loves variety, contact with people. And he appreciates the fact that he gets to know all kinds of different types in his job. Tattoo artists who want to open their own shop, people who work in refugee accommodation, the prison, in nursing homes, in short, in shared accommodation,in which, for example, he took drinking water samples. They were often contacts that had grown over the years. Controls are still taking place. But not as regularly as before the outbreak of the pandemic. "The focus is on sensitive facilities," says Becht. Three of his colleagues form a kind of emergency team. You are not involved in the case processing, instead you take care of the most urgent cases of drinking water or bathing water hygiene. “The most necessary things are still being done,” says Becht. "If we receive reports of high Legionella levels, we have to react quickly." Sensitive facilities such as nursing homes are also still visited.But not as regularly as before the outbreak of the pandemic. "The focus is on sensitive facilities," says Becht. Three of his colleagues form a kind of emergency team. You are not involved in the case processing, instead you take care of the most urgent cases of drinking water or bathing water hygiene. “The most necessary things are still being done,” says Becht. "If we receive reports of high Legionella levels, we have to react quickly." Sensitive facilities such as nursing homes are also still visited.But not as regularly as before the outbreak of the pandemic. "The focus is on sensitive facilities," says Becht. Three of his colleagues form a kind of emergency team. You are not involved in the case processing, instead you take care of the most urgent cases of drinking water or bathing water hygiene. “The most necessary things are still being done,” says Becht. "If we receive reports of high Legionella levels, we have to react quickly." Sensitive facilities such as nursing homes are also still visited.“The most necessary things are still being done,” says Becht. "If we receive reports of high Legionella levels, we have to react quickly." Sensitive facilities such as nursing homes are also still visited.“The most necessary things are still being done,” says Becht. "If we receive reports of high Legionella levels, we have to react quickly." Sensitive facilities such as nursing homes are also still visited.

The years in the field and the trusting cooperation paid off, says Becht. The forty-three-year-old hopes to be able to drive out more again in 2022. “I believe that we can easily build on with the institutions that we have known for a long time. The big ones know what to do. ”And the little ones? The piercing, tattoo and nail salons, not all of which made it through the tough lockdown? A priority list must be drawn up for them and all other pent-up tasks in order to determine what needs to be done first. But even to create these, there is currently not enough time, says Becht.

He already suspects that if the situation relaxes in spring and his back office work is less needed, there will still be no rest period.

Too much work has been left behind for that.

Nevertheless, he looks forward to the time when he will return to his daily work, take samples again on site, and talk to people face to face.

Until then, he will draw strength from the solidarity that he and his colleagues have experienced in the health department, supported by external helpers, such as soldiers from the Bundeswehr.

“How quickly everyone got used to the subject is great.

We all work towards a common goal. "