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KBV boss Andreas Gassen: "We have to go back to normality"
Photo: Jens Schicke / IMAGO
Kassenärztechef Andreas Gassen has demanded that all isolation and quarantine obligations due to Covid-19 be lifted in order to defuse staff shortages.
“We have to get back to normal.
Anyone who is sick stays at home.
Anyone who feels healthy goes to work,” said the chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ).
"We do the same with other infectious diseases like the flu."
Gassen said that the number of infections had been very high for months and that there were probably hundreds of thousands of undetected infections per day due to fewer tests.
However, the courses are almost always mild.
“So the problem is not the many infections, but that those who test positive stay at home for several days even without symptoms and are sent into isolation.
This creates staff shortages in the clinics and elsewhere.«
»We cannot permanently hide from the virus.«
In the »NOZ«, Gassen advocated seeing the Omicron variant »almost as a 'peace offer from the virus'«.
Anyone who becomes infected after triple vaccination “even benefits from an infection by acquiring mucosal immunity”.
Those who have been vaccinated are well protected against severe courses.
Nobody should therefore be actively infected, said the KBV boss.
“But we can't hide from the virus forever.
And we are the last country in Europe that is still so excitedly discussing a corona emergency.«
People who become infected with the corona virus have to be isolated at home for five days.
Employees in health care facilities must also prove that they are negative by means of a quick or PCR test before returning to work.
They must also be symptom-free for 48 hours.
A five-day quarantine is strongly recommended for people who have had contact with infected people.
lov/AFP/dpa
