Coronavirus City of Vantaa’s new corona guideline confuses: City advised to go to work in coronary heart disease if asymptomatic

Vantaa the city urges its residents who are infected with the coronavirus to go to work despite the infection if they are asymptomatic and unable to work remotely.

The Instructions for Infected pages said the following on Monday morning:

“If you’ve got a coronary infection and are completely asymptomatic and can’t do telecommuting, you can go to work. If you get any symptoms, report the illness and stay home. ”

On Monday afternoon, the instructions had been changed on the City of Vantaa’s website.

“If you have a coronary infection and are completely asymptomatic, stay telecommuting for five days. If you are unable to do your own work remotely, agree with your supervisor on suitable other work or study that you can do at home. A certificate of sick leave may be issued only to a symptomatic person ‘, pages read.

Why such instructions have been given to the residents, the chief physician responsible for infectious diseases Kirsi Valtonen?

“Because we are in no way able to secure the loss of earnings for asymptomatic corona-positive people in a situation where isolation decisions are no longer made,” says Valtonen.

“There is so much coronary heart disease everywhere in the metropolitan area now that almost when you leave your home, you are likely to experience coronary heart disease. We want to be open about this and we wrote it openly as a guide. I understand that this is provoking a debate and there will certainly be a saying. We have now changed the wording a little differently, but that does not solve the underlying problem, ”says Valtonen.

According to Valtonen, the instructions given on Friday are “one step in accepting that the disease is on the move more than we know.”

“It’s unreasonable to write an isolation decision for asymptomatic if we can’t even make it symptomatic. Especially when the significance of a positive test result for asymptomatic is even more uncertain. ”

The policy is the City of Vantaa’s own, and it has not been decided, for example, in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Corona Coordination Group.

According to Valtonen, employers can make a decision that asymptomatic interest-positive people can stay at home and get paid for it, but employers do not receive any compensation for it.

“Responsible employers who want to avoid further infections can do so, but we, as those responsible for infectious diseases, cannot oblige them to do so. The city of Vantaa has this policy, and I recommend the same to other employers. ”

But isn’t there a risk of an infectious disease if a person goes to work sick, even if asymptomatic?

“Yes, there is a risk of infection, but it’s good to note that there are likely to be interest rate positives in the workplace right now that we don’t know about. And if an asymptomatic person gets a positive test result, we don’t know if it’s a fresh infection, just a remnant of an old infection, or if it’s even a false positive, which is quite rare in the current situation. ”

What does Valtonen say to a Vantaa resident who is now afraid that as a co-worker, a person with a permit can be a corona-positive person?

“It’s worth keeping in mind that every person we encounter can be contagious even if it’s not tested by a test. It’s a good idea to keep masks and safety gaps and avoid eating in a large group. And make sure the vaccinations are in order.

On Monday afternoon, the instructions had been changed on the City of Vantaa’s website. Picture: Screenshot