Coronavirus STM’s Varhila: Uusimaa’s municipal policies are about non-compliance with the Communicable Diseases Act

Social- and Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Health (STM) Kirsi Varhila does not warm up to the requirements for updating the corona strategy. Varhila says updating the corona strategy will not help a situation that is regulated at the law level.

According to Varhila, the policies of the municipalities of Uusimaa are not about quitting the government’s interest rate strategy, but about not following the procedure under the Communicable Diseases Act.

The metropolitan area corona coordination group demanded on Tuesday the government to update the national strategy to reflect the current epidemic situation.

The coronavirus self-transformation is now spreading so fast that it is no longer possible to trace infections everywhere. In Uusimaa, several municipalities have decided to abandon mainly tracing and quarantine.

Varhila also points out that the corona strategy was updated in the autumn and that the emergency braking procedure set out in it has been introduced.

“There is still little information about Omikron, so updating in that regard is tricky,” he replied to STT by email on Tuesday.

Helsinki and 11 other municipalities in Uusimaa announced on Mondaythat those exposed at school, at home and at work will no longer be subject to quarantine under the Communicable Diseases Act and, for example, those with mild symptoms should not apply for a laboratory test unless they are at risk.

Municipalities and for companies, the decision of the cities of Uusimaa is problematic, among other things, because if a person does not have a coronary infection confirmed by a laboratory test, there is no right to the infectious disease daily allowance granted by Kela during quarantine or isolation.

However, in the opinion of the municipalities of Uusimaa that have made the policy, social security alone is not a lasting reason for drawing up decisions that severely restrict individual freedom.

According to the Communicable Diseases Act, a doctor responsible for communicable diseases may decide to quarantine or isolate a person when the risk of the spread of a general infectious disease is obvious and the spread of the disease cannot be prevented in any other way.

On Tuesday, BTI sought a chief physician responsible for infectious diseases in Helsinki Sanna Isosomppia to ask, among other things, what Monday’s decision means for those who would need an infection allowance. He replied that he was waiting for STM to answer the same questions.

Uusimaa municipalities believe that the importance of quarantine or isolation to limit the epidemic has diminished. They believe that people with coronavirus disease should move to normal sick leave practices.

This is also the opinion of the director of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) Mika Salminen, which believes that Finland should abandon quarantine and large-scale infection tracing in the fight against the corona. Salminen talked about it Ylelle on tuesday.

Instead of extensive quarantines, he suggested sick leave and flexibility so that workers could be away from work for longer with their own notice.

THL already in its pre – Episcopal statement, it was of the opinion that the trend should be home care and self – isolation without testing, tracing and official isolation and quarantine.

“Verification of home tests for vaccinated individuals with PCR tests should be discontinued as a general activity, and verifications should only be done if the person is in healthcare or needs compensation for their isolation,” THL estimates at the time.