Quarantine rules: Corona summit advises on serious change - Lauterbach names crucial areas

Created: 01/07/2022, 05:19 AM

From: Cindy Boden

Are there new quarantine rules coming in Germany?

© Christian Ohde / Imago (montage)

The current quarantine rules drive politics.

Should there be new, shortened times?

The federal and state governments will discuss on Friday.

It is already heated beforehand.

Berlin - It will be the first Corona summit of the year * and an important topic of conversation is polarizing in advance: possible new quarantine rules. The omicron variant makes the discussion necessary. Because the virus seems to be spreading extremely quickly. If there are many infected people, there will also be many contact persons. Do they all have to be quarantined for two weeks?

Some fear that then public life and, above all, the critical infrastructure can hardly be maintained.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach * (SPD) named in particular hospitals, care for the elderly, police, fire brigade and water and electricity supplies.

School and travel should also be considered.

So new, adapted rules should be created - a shortening of the quarantine duration.

At the beginning of the week, politicians and experts exchanged public arguments for and against *.

Other countries have already adjusted their times.

Federal-state meeting also on quarantine: Are the governments resolving new corona measures?

According to the federal government, the omicron variant of the coronavirus * should become the dominant variant in Germany in a few days, it said on Wednesday.

"We are currently assuming an Omikron share of 25 percent across Germany," said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health.

In some federal states, especially in northern Germany, Omikron is already dominant.

"In this respect, we have to assume that in a short time, in a few days, Omikron will actually be the dominant variant nationwide." The subject of the shortened quarantine period is urgent.

Shortening the quarantine period: will the federal and state governments decide in favor of it at the Friday meeting?

For example, the Federal Association of Energy and Water Suppliers (BDEW) demanded flexible quarantine regulations for the staff in the so-called critical infrastructure. "The currently discussed, general reduction in quarantine times for operationally necessary personnel is a useful support to prevent possible personnel shortages," said BDEW boss Kerstin Andreae to the

. At the moment the situation in the company is "still relaxed", but the Omikron variant could lead to a "sudden increase" in quarantine cases. If the measures from the pandemic plans are no longer sufficient, it must be possible to lift the quarantine for key personnel, demanded Andreae. "If necessary, we consider suspending the quarantine for the performance of the service to be necessary, provided that the staff is able to work."

Opponents of greatly reduced quarantine rules for everyone fear that people could continue to infect others.

The Green politician Janosch Dahmen said on ARD: “I am very cautious when it comes to shortening the quarantine.” He can imagine it with specialized technical professions.

"But exempting the nurse who now takes care of heart attacks or strokes from quarantine rules, who then may infect other patients, opens too many doors for Omikron."

Quarantine rules: what's next?

Chancellor Scholz discusses open questions with the Prime Minister

Several points are still vague before the federal-state meeting: For whom are shortened quarantine times an option - only for those who have been boosted? Only for people from the critical infrastructure? How long should the isolation last? Do you have to “free yourself”? On Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz * (SPD) and the Prime Ministers want to discuss this in detail.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) has now called for more comprehensibility in the new regulation of the quarantine times.

"Even at Omikron, the quarantine remains an important tool for reducing the number of infections," said Wüst of the

There should be "no chaos in the quarantine".

In addition, it must make a difference whether a contact person has already been boosted or not.

"If we now adapt the rules in an orderly manner, they have to be clear and understandable for everyone," stressed Wüst.

The rules must be based on "what is infectiologically and epidemiologically necessary".