Decision of the health ministers: criticism of the elimination of the obligation to isolate

So far, anyone who tests positive for Corona has had to stay at home in isolation for several days. This “must” will become a “should” from May 1st. Patient advocates criticize this sharply – especially with regard to risk groups.

The fact that people infected with corona and contact persons no longer have to go into isolation or quarantine from May 1st is met with criticism. The board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, sees great dangers for people who are particularly at risk.

“The message from the health ministers could hardly be more ambiguous,” he said. “On the one hand, the warning against the virus. On the other hand, the downplaying of the infection, which is more contagious than ever.” For the high-risk groups living “among us,” “it’s getting more and more dangerous.” High-risk groups include, for example, people who are very old or suffer from a previous illness and for whom vaccination no longer works well or is not possible for medical reasons.

“Sit at home instead of infecting more people”

The epidemiologist Hajo Zeeb demanded that the obligation to isolate be maintained, at least for infected people. “If a person shows symptoms, then they should sit out the corona infection at home instead of infecting more people,” Zeeb told the editorial network Germany. Especially with the omicron variant there is a risk of the virus being passed on very quickly. An isolation obligation of five days should therefore be observed.

However, Zeeb no longer considers a quarantine requirement for contact persons – i.e. people who live in the same household with an infected person but who have not tested positive themselves – to be necessary.

The health ministers of the federal and state governments had agreed yesterday that from May 1st, people infected with corona and contact persons would usually only have to be isolated or quarantined voluntarily and for a short period of time. In the future, infected people will only be “strongly recommended” to isolate themselves for five days and avoid contacts – it should apply accordingly to contact persons of infected people. There is no order from the health department. Stricter requirements should remain for employees in healthcare and care who have become infected.

“Permanently not necessary”

With the easing of the quarantine rules, mass staff shortages should also be avoided when the number of infections is high. They are based on a suggestion by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). So far, the secretions usually last ten days and can be ended with a negative test after seven days. A formal order from the health department is often no longer issued.

“The current regulation works, but it is not necessary in the long term,” said Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD). The chairwoman of the Health Ministers’ Conference, Saxony-Anhalt’s Health Minister Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD), explained after the video switch with her colleagues: “We consider the planned change in strategy of the quarantine and isolation regulations towards more personal responsibility to be justifiable.” In the current phase of the pandemic, it is “more important than before that each individual takes responsibility for protecting themselves and others from infection”.