Pandemic
After shortened corona isolation test strongly recommended
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach during a press conference. Photo: Carsten Koall/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
After an infection with the corona virus, five days of isolation are ordered. According to new guidelines from the Ministry of Health, a final test should be necessary – even mandatory for health care workers.
With the prescribed isolation for corona infected people of five days in the future, a final negative test should be urgently recommended.
According to Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, this provides for new guidelines that the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) should publish. Such a “free test” should therefore be mandatory for infected healthcare workers.
The SPD politician reiterated that the isolation for infected people should continue to be ordered by the health authorities. This gives the signal that Corona is not a flu or a cold. If someone approaches people infected, “then they are actually endangering their lives.”
Overall, Lauterbach spoke of a “solution with a sense of proportion”. He explained that the isolation could be shortened to five days based on the shorter course of the disease in the current omicron variant BA.2. So far, secretions usually last ten days and can end prematurely with a negative test after seven days.
The concrete implementation of the rules according to the recommendation of the RKI and the Federal Ministry of Health is up to the federal states. There are already new regulations in several countries.
Lauterbach: Vaccination for staff in clinics and care remains
After the failure of a general corona vaccination requirement, Lauterbach is sticking to the vaccination requirement for employees in clinics and nursing homes. It was not a means of implementing the general obligation to vaccinate, but an instrument to protect people “who have entrusted themselves to us,” said the SPD politician. The facility-related vaccination requirement is not up for discussion. The regulations were well received and implemented more quietly than some assumed. The minister thanked the employees in clinics and care.
The vaccination requirement for employees in facilities for groups requiring special protection has been in effect since mid-March. Criticism of uncertainties in the implementation had been voiced from the countries. After the failure of a general vaccination requirement in the Bundestag, the debate has picked up speed again. Among other things, the German Hospital Society called for an immediate suspension of partial vaccination.