The district office reports only four infections in schools and childcare facilities after the Christmas holidays. That sounds like a relaxed corona situation in the classrooms and daycare groups, but that’s only half the story. Since all parents were asked to test their children before school started, most cases were discovered at home. The fact is: Omikron is also on the advance in the district of Munich, the numbers are increasing again and steadily, the incidence was again at 439.0 on Tuesday morning. According to the head of the health department, Gerhard Schmid, around 60 percent of new infections are very likely due to the new variant.
The authorities are still not entirely sure, because hardly a suspected case is ever confirmed by whole genome sequencing. But in those cases in which there were results from the laboratory, these omicrons would also have been detected, says Schmid. How highly infectious the mutant from South Africa is is now known, so District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU) is assuming a sharp increase in infections in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, however, there has been a move away from quarantining entire classes in the event of an Omicron infection, as they did before the holidays. Rather, the authorities are now proceeding as with the Delta variant: the direct contact persons such as the people sitting next to them or the siblings have to stay at home for ten days and can be free from the seventh day. Only the infected person has to be quarantined for 14 days. If, on the other hand, several students are infected, the whole class or group is affected. There are currently 50 contact persons from schools and daycare centers in quarantine.
In terms of the total number of vaccinations, the district has passed the 700,000 mark. This includes 177,500 booster vaccinations. The vaccine has already been administered 7,000 times in the five to eleven year old age group. According to Göbel, however, more children could have been vaccinated long ago, as he announced in a press conference on Tuesday. Because vaccine and appointments for children are sufficiently available in the vaccination centers in the district. However, there is currently a problem with the registration via the Bayimco portal. Appointments must therefore only be made through the call center. Booster appointments are also possible for under 18-year-olds, as the district administrator expressly emphasizes. He had consulted with the doctors in the vaccination centers because there was apparently some uncertainty as to whether these booster vaccinations are already being offered for young people.
On the other hand, it is still unclear what status vaccinated people have who have had corona after two immunizations and are now also considered recovered. These people cannot get a third vaccination immediately after their recovery; they have to wait a few months. According to the currently valid regulation, anyone who has been vaccinated twice and has recovered from an infection is not considered to be “boosted” in Bavaria. However, anyone who has recovered from an infection and is then vaccinated twice is considered “boosted” and therefore does not need an additional test in facilities where the 2-G plus rule applies. As Göbel confirms, this regulation does not make any medical sense for those who have recovered after the double vaccination, according to the medical practitioner Oliver Abbushi. “That is incomprehensible,” said Göbel. The Federal Ministry of Health is currently examining the lifting of the obligation to test for this group of people.