Schwerin/Hanover (dpa/mv) - The care of sick children is becoming more and more a woman's job in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as well as nationwide. After an increase in the course of the corona pandemic, the number of working fathers who took time off to look after children fell in the first half of 2022, according to the commercial health insurance fund (KKH). As the health insurance company announced on Monday, in the first six months almost 23 percent of fathers in the north-east claimed children's sick days. In the same period of the previous year, the rate was still almost 27 percent.
The national average fell from a good 25 to around 23 percent. According to the Kasse, only Thuringia and Schleswig-Holstein again recorded an upward trend, with Thuringia taking the top spot in a comparison of the federal states with 29 percent. As a possible reason for the overall downward trend in the care of sick children by their fathers, the statutory health insurance company cited the relaxation of the corona virus this year. These would have "brought more normality back to day-care, school and everyday work," it said. Around 45,000 people are insured with KKH in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and around 1.6 million nationwide.
