Will the infrastructure soon collapse? The Omikron variant is spreading rapidly and forcing many employees to isolate themselves at home at the same time. If the quarantine is shortened, the health risk could increase.
Not only the quarantine requires patient waiting: You also have to have time for the vaccination appointment like here in Berlin.
A few days before the federal-state consultations, there are increasing voices calling for the quarantine period in Germany to be shortened. Anyone who tested positive for Covid-19 currently has to go into domestic isolation for fourteen days. This also applies to fully vaccinated and recovered contact persons. Due to the rapid spread of the Omikron variant, the critical infrastructure could be at risk in a short time if too many workers had to go into quarantine at the same time.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced that it would review the deadlines for quarantining contact persons and isolating infected people. In view of the high number of cases, it is urgent to change the applicable rules. Appeals are also coming from the economy that there is a risk of widespread loss of employees. However, there is no consensus on this issue.
As far as we know, the course of the disease for vaccinated people who are infected with the Omicron variant is relatively mild in most cases. As the biophysicist Richard Neher explained on Deutschlandfunk, an infection with Omikron can apparently be detected earlier than other mutations. That could also speak in favor of shortening the quarantine period, at least for vaccinated people.
Endangering seriously ill people
However, it is not yet clear how long infected people remain infectious. The Greens health expert, Janosch Dahmen, expressed concern that early release from domestic isolation could put vulnerable groups at risk. If, for example, nurses who have become infected with the Omikron variant end the quarantine earlier and are unknowingly still infectious, they could endanger seriously ill people. A shortening of the deadline is conceivable, however, for specific areas of the critical infrastructure such as the waterworks.
Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) currently sees no need for action, as reported by the Berlin-Brandenburg broadcasting company. She only considers it necessary to shorten the isolation time if it is foreseeable that areas of the critical infrastructure such as the police or fire brigade will no longer be able to work.
Schools are particularly affected by the quarantine regulations. Sometimes entire classes have to go into quarantine if there is an infection. From the point of view of the Education and Science Union (GEW), it is desirable to shorten the quarantine period using a PCR test if, for example, a teacher has become infected. The federal education minister of the FDP, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, and the education ministers of the federal states once again emphasized that the schools must remain open and face-to-face lessons must be made possible. On Wednesday (January 5th) the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs will hold a special meeting to discuss the pandemic situation in schools.
Shortened quarantine in Switzerland
The Federal Government’s Expert Council will also deal on Tuesday (January 4) with a possible shortening of the quarantine rules. In the course of the week, a statement from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is expected before the next Prime Minister’s Conference meets on Friday (January 7th) to discuss an adjustment to the corona measures.
The seven-day incidence in Germany is currently just under 240. Despite the nationwide highest vaccination rate of more than 87 percent, the state of Bremen currently has the highest incidence in Germany with a value of over 516. Due to the recent public holidays, the numbers currently reported according to the RKI only give an incomplete picture of the pandemic situation. Lauterbach expects significantly higher numbers of infections.
In Switzerland, some cantons have already switched to reducing the quarantine period from ten to seven days. The USA and European countries such as Great Britain and France have also relaxed the quarantine rules to prevent an impending collapse of the infrastructure. However, should the wave of infections turn out to be more severe, the health system could become overloaded.