"Domestic quarantine": These two words have been making the rounds since the outbreak of the corona pandemic.
But what exactly does that mean?
The district office provides information.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen -
Currently, among others, the entire eleventh grade of the Ickingen Rainer-Maria-Rilke-Gymnasium, the bottom line being 75 young people, is in quarantine at home.
But what exactly does this mean and what rules of conduct must those affected observe?
Marlis Peischer, press spokeswoman for the district office, provides answers to important questions on this “complex topic”, as she notes.
The quarantine
The term quarantine goes back to the devastating plague pandemic in the 14th century.
The plague swept from the Mongol Empire over the Black Sea and the Mediterranean to Europe.
To contain them, the city of Venice decided that the crews of the ships that arrived at the port would not be allowed to enter the country for 40 days.
The word quarantine is derived from the number 40, Italian "quaranta".
"Strictly speaking, quarantine is the term for the isolation of symptom-free people," explains Marlis Peischer, press spokeswoman for the district office in Bad Tölz.
"So these are usually contact persons or travelers returning home." The quarantine currently lasts 14 days.
This corresponds to the maximum incubation time, i.e. the time between a possible infection with Covid-19 and the appearance of symptoms.
The isolation
According to the spokeswoman for the authorities Peischer, the term “isolation” means “the separation of sick or infected people”.
Isolation usually lasts ten days.
The goal
The purpose of the temporary isolation at home is to significantly reduce the social contacts of the person concerned.
The quarantine is ordered by the health department.
This can be done as a precaution; in the case of serious illnesses, inpatient quarantine in a hospital can be prescribed.
The affected
Domestic quarantine is usually ordered for people who are at high risk of contracting the coronavirus.
For example, because you have had close contact with a person who tested positive in the past two weeks.
Close contact means that you have spoken to this person personally for at least 15 minutes or have been sneezed on or coughed up.
People who have only stayed briefly in the same room with an infected person within the past 14 days do not have to be quarantined.
The order
In principle, only the health department can isolate someone in the sense of quarantine.
“However, there are exceptions,” emphasizes Peischer.
These result, for example, from the general decree entitled “Isolation of Category 1 contact persons, suspects and persons who tested positive for the coronavirus”.
According to this general decree issued by the Bavarian state government, the health department “actually no longer has to order segregation, because segregation is automatically valid, so to speak, through the general disposal”, stated the spokeswoman for the district office.
That means: It applies to contact persons according to the degree 1 classification and corresponding notification by the health department - and for so-called suspect persons if the health department has ordered a test.
"Or immediately after the test," adds Peischer.
Violations of an officially ordered quarantine can be punished with a fine or imprisonment.
The basis for ordering quarantine is Section 30 of the Infection Protection Act.
The doctor's duty to provide information
The doctor who tests a suspect must inform this person beforehand about the consequences of the general ruling.
Peischer: "So the doctor does not send anyone into quarantine, but rather informs the person he is testing that the test results in an obligation to quarantine."
Tested positive
People whose corona test turned out positive must go into isolation as soon as they have the test result.
"Because the test results can be transmitted by SMS, it can happen that people find out about their positive result in front of the health department," says Peischer Sei's drum: whichever way the person in question finds out that his test was positive, "he must." Immediately go into isolation and report it to the health department, as far as he was informed of the result from another source ”.
The rules of conduct
Isolation means that the person concerned should be in a separate room or area of the home if possible.
Visitors may not be received.
Common rooms should be entered little or not at all.
Important: Keep your distance from the rest of the family, eat meals separately from the family and use your own hygiene items.
“You must not leave the house,” emphasizes Peischer.
In practical terms, this means "that you can go to the balcony if there is not an adjacent balcony on which another person is standing at the same time," the district administration spokeswoman said.
"You can also be alone on the terrace or in your own garden."
Inquiries from the office
The health department asks the people who are in quarantine by telephone about their current state of health.
Grade 1 contact persons must keep a diary in which the general state of health, symptoms, body temperature etc. are recorded.
The repeal
Only the health department can lift the isolation or quarantine again.
Discharge dates
The public health department only invites you to the quarantine test appointments - for example with contact persons grade 1.
However, this only applies if this person has no symptoms.
Peischer: "Symptomatic cases are not tested in the test stations because these people may need medical care, not just a test." Of course, there is the case "that a symptom-free contact person has been tested by a family doctor".
Returning travelers
Anyone who returns from a risk area must go to quarantine immediately after entering Germany, "without the need for an order from the health department," emphasizes Peischer.
Knowing full well that there are still many exemptions.
The registration form for travelers returning can be found on the homepage of the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen District Office.
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