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The contact tracing teams are already being challenged. Now they are preparing for the “horror scenario”.
The contact tracings of the cantons are already at least well utilized. A calming down of the situation is far from in sight – quite the opposite. Omikron is already responsible for half of all cases – and the highly contagious virus variant is still on the rise. By mid-January, case numbers of up to 20,000 per day are expected, as Tanja Stadler, President of the Covid Task Force, told the media yesterday.
Contact tracings upgrade
The contact tracers are now preparing for the “horror scenario” in the new year. The situation is already tense, for example in the canton of Zurich. The phones are already running hot in contact tracing: “We have case numbers every day that have never been so high. We have people on duty like never before. We have a constant number of positive people and contact persons every day, ”says Beat Lauper, who is responsible for contact tracing in the canton of Zurich.
We have people on duty like never before. We have a constant number of positives and contacts every day.
In addition to the 120 jobs they already have, 45 more are to be added. The number of cases is currently at the 2000 limit. But one reckons with “a massive increase”.
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The contact tracing centers in the cantons are currently in great demand.
Keystone
The canton of Graubünden is also preparing for a strong wave. In addition, an entire infrastructure is currently being prepared in order to be able to react to the Omikron wave. The contact tracing team, which currently consists of 30 employees, is to be doubled: “We can currently handle up to 500 cases per day with the team we have. If there are more, we have to grow. At some point you come to a border, ”says Martin Bühler, head of the cantonal management staff in Graubünden.
Limited contact tracings
Despite the tense situation, the federal government is not expected to take any new measures in the next few days. The federal and cantonal experts are aware that certain contact tracings are reaching their limits due to the rapid spread of Omikron.
According to the senior cantonal doctor, Rudolf Hauri, contact tracing had to be restricted in some cantons: “In some cases, it was no longer possible to determine all of the close contacts outside of the immediate vicinity,” reported the President of the Association of Cantonal Doctors at yesterday’s media conference.
Are the quarantine rules being adjusted?
There are currently no national regulations stating that vaccinated and convalescent people must be quarantined if they have had contact with an Omikron positive person. Only a few cantons have such stricter quarantine rules – for example Ticino, the canton of Aargau and Bern. It is not yet foreseeable whether the quarantine rules will also be tightened nationwide for vaccinated and convalescent people because of Omikron. One thing is clear: Even then, contact tracings will be challenged even more – and they are already arming themselves for this.