Monday, January 03, 2022
“Would be negligent”
Dispute over short quarantine intensifies
Before the consultations of the expert council and the next federal-state meeting, the dispute over a possible short quarantine intensifies: In order to keep the critical infrastructure operational, Health Minister Lauterbach is thinking about it. Immunologists consider a general relaxation to be negligent.
A few days before the decisive federal-state consultations, there are increasing calls for a shortening of the quarantine times. The Association of Towns and Municipalities promoted a waiver of quarantine for infected boosted people without symptoms of disease who work in central areas. The Robert Koch Institute wants to make a recommendation in the course of the week before the federal and state governments discuss it on Friday. The Ministry of Health also promised more precise infection numbers for the federal-state consultations.
The federal government and the states should agree on appropriate procedures, as it is unclear how the sick leave will develop in the coming weeks, said the chief executive of the association of cities and municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, on the question of the quarantine duration. At the moment, however, the situation is “not dramatic”, and all tasks can still be fulfilled. The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst named the goal of maintaining the critical infrastructure. The CDU politician named the areas of electricity, water, health, fire brigade and police in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. The quarantine time should be checked, especially for those who have been vaccinated three times.
Immunologist Watzl requests a PCR test
The immunologist Carsten Watzl considers a shortening of the quarantine period to be justifiable only in combination with a negative PCR test. “You can only do that seriously if it is accompanied by a negative test,” said the Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology. “Just to shorten it because they say, otherwise too many people will drop out, then we’d rather let people out after seven days, with or without a test – I would consider that to be negligent.” Eventually, some people could still be contagious and make the virus spread faster.
With a view to the already very rapid spread of the Omikron variant, it could “make perfect sense” that someone could test himself free after five or seven days, said Watzl – especially when it comes to the critical infrastructure. After all, fully vaccinated people who became infected could fight the virus faster and earlier thanks to the immune reaction. However, a PCR test is urgently recommended, according to Watzl. “Quite clear: in my opinion, a rapid antigen test would not be sufficient.” Corresponding plans therefore absolutely required that sufficient PCR tests were available and could be carried out, emphasized the expert.
“Shortening only conceivable for individual cases”
The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen also opposed a general shortening of the quarantine time for people with booster vaccinations. It must be prevented that an infected nurse becomes a risk for stroke or heart attack patients, he said on RTL / ntv’s “Frühstart” program. However, shortened quarantine times for vaccinated and boosted people who work in the critical infrastructure could be considered, said Dahmen. He cited waterworks as an example, which require highly specialized skills but have few contacts.
A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health said, especially in the event that load limits are reached, the quarantine rules may require shorter times. The authorities would have to prepare for this case. The recommendations of the RKI can be expected in the course of this week. In the course of the week, the institute will also present reliable data on the current level of infection in Germany after the holidays.
Current regulations: quarantine and isolation
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Sunday evening that he was thinking about shortened quarantine and isolation times because of the Omikron variant. Today, the following applies in principle: If you have close contact with a person who has tested positive for Corona, you should be quarantined at home for ten days. This can be shortened to seven days with a negative rapid antigen test and to five days with a negative PCR test. The decision on the quarantine lies with the responsible health department. If that is overloaded and does not deal with it at first, you should stay at home independently. A distinction must be made between isolation: Those who are infected themselves should be in isolation for 14 days after the onset of symptoms – those who have been completely vaccinated for five days if they are then symptom-free and negative PCR-tested.
At possibly shorter times, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health said, “of course you shouldn’t take too big a risk”. The health authorities could already make differences in the quarantine duration today. Legally, it is so that the countries are responsible for appropriate rules. But the RKI makes a recommendation that applies nationwide.