Quarantine confusion after the Corona summit causes trouble: the first district is now taking action

Created: 01/11/2022, 12:56 PM

From: Bedrettin Bölükbasi

The unclear time to start reducing quarantine times is causing confusion.

© Marijan Murat / dpa

At the Corona summit, it was decided to shorten the quarantine times.

However, the unclear starting time is confusing.

A commune now wants to act itself.

Munich - The Omikron variant of the deadly corona virus is spreading rapidly in Germany.

The number of cases and the incidence are skyrocketing.

The incidence is now as high as it was before Christmas.

The sharp increase in the number of cases in the midst of the more contagious omicron wave also means that more and more people have to go into quarantine.

For the critical infrastructure, this could result in a considerable shortage of staff.

Exactly against this, the federal and state governments took action at the Corona summit on Friday (January 7th) and decided to shorten quarantine times.

The unclear starting time for the new regulations leaves municipalities puzzled as to why some could now take action themselves.

One is already doing this.

Corona summit: new rules have been decided - no quarantine for boosted contacts

Even before the summit, there were discussions about shortening quarantine and isolation times.

Many politicians drew attention to the risk of staff shortages in areas of critical infrastructure such as the police, fire brigade or healthcare.

The health ministers' conference also proposed a shortening after deliberations.

So it finally came to the decision in the Prime Minister's Conference.

Currently, the following applies: Boosted contact persons no longer have to be in quarantine, whereas everyone else can leave the quarantine after ten days if they are symptom-free - with a negative PCR test or rapid test, this should also be possible after seven days.

A PCR test is also required for healthcare workers.

Furthermore, if the test is negative, students can return to class after five days.

Quarantine periods: when does the new regulation begin?

- Confusion after Corona summit at start time

The new rules are in place, but there is a central point of uncertainty, which was not resolved even after the press conference following the summit: the time of the start of the new rules during quarantine times.

Neither Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) nor the regional leaders have made it clear when the regulations should apply.

There is also no specific information in the joint decision of the conference.

It simply means that “the federal and state governments will make the necessary changes to the legal regulations promptly”.

This lack of clarity is causing a lot of confusion for both the authorities and the citizens.

The health authorities were faced with considerable problems because the timing details of the regulation were not clearly communicated.

The effects are already noticeable.

The senior officer of a district administration described the situation to the ARD.

Many people who thought that the new rules would apply immediately, apparently ended their quarantine or isolation too early and clashed with the authorities.

The officer told of angry phone calls and insults against employees, some of which ended in tears.

Many callers did not want to accept that the new rules were not yet in force, the ARD quoted the officials as saying.

Quarantine times: District in North Rhine-Westphalia takes effect - the new regulation applies there immediately after the summit

The introduction of the new rules will initially be preceded by further procedures.

The so-called Covid-19 Protective Measures Exception Ordinance must first be changed and the Bundestag approve this change, according to which the Federal Council still has to decide on Friday (January 14th).

Only then can the federal states implement the rules with their own ordinances, if necessary.

In the ARD program “Report from Berlin”, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) emphasized that he was expecting a quick implementation.

However, this statement is probably not sufficient for many districts.

The North Rhine-Westphalian Ennepe-Ruhr district, for example, took action itself and announced that it wanted to implement the new rules directly.

The crisis team of the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis decided after “consulting the State Ministry for Labor, Health and Social Affairs to implement the new scheme with immediate effect”, it said in a message on the official website.

The advance of the district could also stimulate other municipalities to do so.

The resulting inconsistent regulations - even if only for a certain period of time - are likely to confuse German health authorities and, above all, citizens.

A clear statement after the Prime Minister's Conference could have prevented this.