Should the quarantine duration be shortened to counteract the staff shortage in the healthcare industry? Other countries are already doing this, and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is also thinking about it.
Berlin – The development of the corona pandemic with a feared fifth wave also raises the question of the quarantine duration, according to Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.
It was “a slightly different situation than we had a week ago,” said the SPD politician in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. One now has to consider “what does that mean for the quarantine period, what does that mean for the contact reductions?”
However, there are currently only estimates of the corona situation because the new infections are only insufficiently recorded over the holidays: because fewer tests are carried out, because the tests are then reported to the health authorities too late and because the authorities themselves also forwarded the data later. The health authorities have far too few staff, said Lauterbach. He wants to change that. “That is a priority that I have.” However, the estimates are “good enough to see what is going on in Germany”.
Other countries have already acted
In view of the oncoming wave of the even more contagious virus variant Omikron, several countries such as the USA and Great Britain have already shortened the quarantine period for infected people without symptoms in order to prevent an acute shortage of staff in facilities and industries that are necessary for basic services and security. Spain shortened the quarantine period for asymptomatic infected people from ten to seven days on Wednesday.
The Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) urges a regulation for Germany as well. “We now have to set the course in order to be well prepared – also and especially with a view to the critical infrastructure,” he told the news portal “Watson”. “In my opinion, for example, exemption from quarantine for boosted contact persons would be conceivable.” In the program “RTL Direkt” he said that a statement from the Robert Koch Institute or the Federal Government’s Expert Council is necessary before the upcoming Prime Minister’s Conference on January 7th .
Ensure laboratory capacity
The German Association of Cities called on the federal and state governments to enable more laboratory and test capacities. They should “ensure that the resident practices ensure that the necessary PCR tests are also carried out on public holidays such as Christmas and New Years and that sufficient laboratory capacities are available on these days,” said General Manager Helmut Dedy of the German editorial network. The health authorities are not the bottleneck – most PCR tests are carried out by the medical profession. “Since many medical practices and laboratories are now on Christmas vacation, there is less testing there.” Dpa
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