Corona is not comparable to the flu, says Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. That is why isolation remains mandatory in the event of corona disease. But the duration should be shortened. Lauterbach recommends testing yourself afterwards anyway.
With the last Corona decisions, both the Robert Koch Institute and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach went from one blunder to the next. Despite all the criticism, Lauterbach is now trying again. Starting next week, isolation in the event of a corona infection is to be reorganized. Lauterbach announced that he wanted to submit a proposal for this. There was “no dissent” on the issue during the conversation with the health ministers of the federal states on Thursday, Lauterbach said on Friday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. The federal and state governments want to keep the mandatory isolation, but shorten it to five days.
Covid-19 is not an illness “like the flu or a cold, where I can decide for myself if I go to work infected,” said Lauterbach. If the obligation to isolate had fallen completely, “it would be like a signal that everyone decides for themselves”. He expects that the health authorities will be better able to cope with ordering isolation again if the number of cases is lower.
Karl Lauterbach recommends testing at the end of isolation
With the planned reduction in isolation for people infected with corona, Lauterbach thinks it makes sense for those affected to test themselves free at the end. “I personally believe that at the end of five days – that’s a very short time – at least one self-test should be strongly recommended,” said the SPD politician on Friday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. “Because we know that many are still positive after the fifth day, and they would then infect others.” Therefore, a free test also makes sense for those who no longer have symptoms – “at least as an urgent recommendation”. He is currently preparing the proposal with the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
The federal and state health ministers presented the plans on Thursday evening after a joint video conference. Bavaria and Saxony, among others, had already reduced the previous mandatory isolation of infected people from ten days to five days if those affected had no symptoms for 48 hours.
Immunity in the population increases
So far, isolation and quarantine have usually lasted ten days and can be ended prematurely with a negative test after seven days at the earliest. The countries want to revise their isolation and quarantine regulations accordingly. The health ministers justify the step with increasing immunity in the population and milder disease progression with the omicron variant.
A quarantine for contact persons of infected people should only be urgently recommended, as it was said on Thursday evening after the deliberations of the department heads. Several countries are already making headway in reducing the isolation period. Federal Minister Lauterbach had withdrawn an initially planned end to the obligation to isolate.
Source: Stern
