Quarantine agreement at the summit: drastic changes decided - the devil is in the details

Created: 01/08/2022, 06:25 AM

From: Cindy Boden

The previously applicable quarantine rules drove politics.

At the Corona summit, new ones were finally decided because of Omikron.

It's worth looking closely.

• At a Corona summit on Friday (January 7th), Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the federal states discussed new pandemic rules.

• One main topic: the quarantine requirements.

  There were concerns that countless quarantine cases could threaten the critical infrastructure in Germany.

• It was finally agreed to shorten the quarantine and isolation requirements.

  (

  Update from 7:22 p.m.

  ).

Update from January 7, 7:22 p.m.:

The federal government and the prime ministers of the states have decided to shorten quarantine and isolation due to the high number of infections to be expected from Omikron.

These are the new rules:

Contact persons who have had a booster vaccination, who have recently been vaccinated twice, have been vaccinated and have recovered, or have recently recovered, no longer need to go into isolation.

A period of up to three months is considered “fresh”.

For everyone else, the quarantine should generally end after ten days.

However, after seven days you can test yourself free using a PCR or antigen test.

The following applies to employees in care facilities and hospitals: Infected people can end the isolation after seven days with a mandatory negative PCR test if they have been symptom-free for at least 48 hours.

To end the quarantine after seven days, contact persons need a negative decision certified by a PCR or rapid test.

Children and adolescents who are contact persons can be discharged after five days with a negative PCR or rapid test.

Infected children and adolescents only after seven days.

Quarantine agreement at the summit: Drastic changes are coming - you need to know that

Update from January 7th, 4.30 p.m.:

In the press conference after the Corona summit, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced the new quarantine rules - there are apparently again deviations from the information leaked in advance.

"Those who have been boosted no longer have to be in quarantine as a contact person," said Scholz.

All others could leave the isolation after ten days if there were no symptoms - with a negative PCR test or rapid test even after seven days.

For employees in the health sector, a PCR test is necessary in order to leave the quarantine after seven days in the event of an infection;

in the meantime there had been talk of five days.

If the test is negative, however, students can actually return to class after five days.

Quarantine agreement at the summit probably fixed - changes are coming

Update from January 7th, 3:55 p.m.:

According to further information from the Bund-Länder-Round, the new quarantine rules have largely been decided as proposed.

According to a report by

, quarantine obligations for fully vaccinated and boosted contacts of Omikron infected people will no longer be required.

For everyone else, the isolation should end after ten days instead of fourteen, and after seven days it should be possible to “free yourself”.

There was therefore a little readjustment for employees in hospitals, nursing homes and integration assistance facilities: They should apparently even be able to be released from isolation after five days - if they tested negative and had been symptom-free for 48 hours beforehand.

The draft resolution also spoke of seven days.

The new regulation is also intended to ensure the ability to work in the critical infrastructure, for example in the health sector, the police or the fire brigade.

Update from January 7th, 3:45 p.m.:

The federal and state governments have apparently agreed at the Corona summit: In view of the new Omikron variant, the quarantine times should be shortened, reports the ARD - “Tagesschau”.

However, more detailed information was not yet known.

Quarantine solution at the Corona summit?

Expert warns of “crowbar” - SPD woman of rule chaos

Update from January 7th, 9.35 a.m.:

Shortly before the Corona summit, the deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Dagmar Schmidt warned of complicated quarantine rules. “The quarantine rules must be simple, clear and understandable. They have to be manageable for everyone, ”said the health expert from the dpa. If the population can no longer understand the instructions in the event of a suspected corona infection, acceptance of these rules will also decrease, she warned. "Acceptance increases when people understand the rules." Clear messages to the population could also help to relieve the health authorities in their work.

One of the main topics is possible reductions in quarantine - especially for employees in the critical infrastructure. The intensive care doctor Christian Karagiannidis has spoken out in favor of a cautious approach. Data from Denmark in particular suggested that “the quarantine period can be shortened,” Karagiannidis told radio station WDR 5 on Friday.

“On the other hand, we shouldn't completely forget that Omikron is very infectious.

We have seen in Denmark that you can infect other people for seven days. ”One speaks of the so-called“ secondary attack rate ”, ie the question of how many people in your area can still be infected.

And this rate was 30 percent in Denmark.

If you now consider the high death rates in old people's and nursing homes during the pandemic, then it is important not to use the crowbar when quarantine is shortened.

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

Preliminary report:

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, the 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, Andreae demanded. "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 must be clear and understandable for everyone," stressed Wüst.

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