Ten minutes without a mask are enough: New corona contact person regulation increases quarantine risk

In order to break corona infection chains, contact persons of corona patients are sent into quarantine.

But when is one considered a contact person?

Anyone who has had contact with a Covid patient can have contracted coronaviruses and pass them on.

To prevent this, contact persons should immediately go into quarantine.

The health authorities are responsible:

They collect patient data, contact the contact persons, and

inform those affected about the disease and how to behave during the quarantine.

The criteria that contact persons must meet changed at the end of March 2021. On the part of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) as the Federal Institute for Infectious Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases, it says: "The changes published on March 31, 2021 were made due to the increased transmission potential of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7, which is now predominant in Germany compared to the previously predominant variants ”.

The contact person regulation has also been refined

, so the following groups of people are currently considered contact persons and therefore subject to quarantine:

• People who have been in close contact (less than 1.5 meters away) with infected people without adequate protection (10 minutes or longer).

  For adequate protection, the case and contact person wear full and correct mouth and nose protection or FFP2 masks.

  For trained medical staff, it is sufficient if they wear an FFP2 mask correctly, according to the RKI.

• If a conversation takes place (less than 1.5 meters away) without adequate protection - regardless of the duration - or direct contact with respiratory secretions (such as nasal or oral mucus).

• Stay in the same room with a likely high concentration of infectious aerosols for at least ten minutes.

Also read

: Stiftung Warentest checks FFP2 masks: A mouthguard does well - two drugstore items, on the other hand, are "not very suitable"

Quarantine for 14 days: those affected keep a symptom diary

If one of the three cases applies, the home quarantine applies for 14 days

.

There is no quarantine requirement for those who have been fully vaccinated or those who have recovered with a single vaccine dose.

During the quarantine itself, those affected have contact with the health department and have to take their body temperature every day and write a symptom diary.

A PCR text is usually carried out at the beginning of the quarantine obligation.

Alternatively, according to the RKI, a rapid antigen test is also used.

The latter is carried out twice a week during the quarantine and on the last day of the quarantine.

If corona symptoms occur during the quarantine, a PCR test is carried out immediately.

If this is positive, the person concerned must inform the health department of the contact persons they met two days before the first symptoms.

You can find out more about contact person tracking in this graphic

Read more

: Corona tests at a glance: When to use rapid antigen tests, PCR or self-tests.

From yoga to qigong: reduce stress and relax

From yoga to qigong: reduce stress and relax