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A shorter isolation and quarantine period is a relief for the population, says the task force president. But what is justifiable in the Corona policy is in the hands of the elected politicians and society.
Although the number of people infected with Corona is increasing sharply, the Federal Council refrained from taking further measures this week – on the other hand, it even shortened the quarantine and isolation period.
The federal scientific task force expects the peak in Switzerland to be reached by the end of January at the latest. “After that, the numbers will go back again,” says Tanja Stadler, President of the Taskforce, in the “Saturday Review”.
Federal Council decision an additional risk?
The shortening of the isolation and quarantine period is a relief for the population, says Stadler. However, it is not clear whether this would accelerate the spread of the virus, she adds. These measures actually make sense, especially when the number of cases is low, to limit the virus.
“With the enormous numbers that we currently have, one has to ask whether the person at home is still more likely to be infectious than the average person in the population who is not in quarantine.”
There is no scientific data that confirms that you are no longer contagious after five days. “Some people will still be infectious five days after the positive test result,” says Stadler. However, many vaccinated people are also positive, in whom the course tends to be faster. “But how fast exactly – there is no reliable data on that either.”
Society must decide what is responsible
Couldn’t one then, as the SVP demands, forgo all measures? “I would be very careful with the isolation,” says the task force president. It is known that asymptomatic people are very infectious after two to three days.
Stadler emphasizes that the infection strategy, which is always being discussed these days, must be viewed in a differentiated manner. In a pandemic, there is a little more infection every day. “This simply tells you what percentage of the population has already had the virus.”
At Omikron, a booster is now needed – “and there are still people who have not yet had the third vaccination, but would be entitled to it”. It is difficult for them to protect themselves in the current situation. Society and the elected politicians have to decide what is responsible and what is not. “The task of the task force is to assess what will happen.”
How dangerous is omicron?
Omicron is about two-thirds as aggressive as the wild type, says Tanja Stadler. Delta was around twice as dangerous as the virus from early 2020. The fact that Omicron is closer to the wild type than Delta is not surprising, according to the task force president. “Omicron emerged from the viruses of 2020 – so it has nothing to do with alpha or delta.” An unvaccinated person now has a similar risk as society had in March or April 2020. “Potentially even a little deeper.”
Since around 90 percent of the population has already been vaccinated or recovered, many are protected to a certain extent. “Therefore, Omicron appears much more harmless to the population.” According to Stadler, however, Omikron is not necessarily less dangerous – only that the immune response of many people is now much better than at the beginning of the pandemic.