In the middle of the summer wave, the head of the doctor, Andreas Gassen, calls for the isolation for infected people to be lifted. Only those who are really sick should stay at home. Experts consider the advance of lanes to be dangerous – with one exception.
Germany is currently experiencing a violent summer wave with currently over 1.8 million infected people. According to the Robert Koch Institute, there are more than 90,000 infections per day on a 7-day average. The number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher.
Despite these high numbers of infections, the chairman of the board of directors of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) is now calling for all quarantine and isolation requirements in Germany to be lifted. This means that those who have tested positive should only stay at home if they are really sick. “We have to get back to normal. Anyone who is sick stays at home. Anyone who feels healthy goes to work. That’s how we do it with other infectious diseases like the flu,” Gassen told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.
The background to the demand is the staff shortages in clinics and elsewhere, which are caused by the fact that, according to the current regulation, those who have tested positive have to stay at home for several days even without symptoms. With a relaxation, on the other hand, the shortage of staff could be alleviated in many places.
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The CEO of the German Hospital Society, Gerald Gaß, also pointed out problems in connection with the obligation to isolate. “The burden is constantly increasing, the significant additional effort due to the obligation to isolate is increasing,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group – without, however, demanding a departure from the current requirements. Due to the absence of employees, operations that could be planned in numerous hospitals would have to be postponed and entire areas would have to be logged off at times, he explained.
Nevertheless, many experts throw their hands over their heads in the face of Gassen’s advance. Karl Lauterbach also sharply criticized this: “Infected people have to stay at home. Otherwise, not only will the number of cases increase even more, but the workplace itself will become a safety risk,” wrote the Federal Minister of Health on Twitter on Saturday.
Other politicians such as Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek also criticized the demand in the “highly dynamic infection situation” in which we find ourselves. The proposal came at “the wrong time,” the minister said. A corona infection is also not a private matter. “It’s always about protecting fellow human beings who could be infected,” RND quoted the minister as saying.
The epidemiologist Timo Urlichs also considers Gassen’s proposal to be dangerous: “Mr. Gassen’s demand is negligent, and in a few weeks other measures will have to be taken in addition to isolation in order to control the summer wave and to prepare as best as possible for the expected autumn wave,” says Ulrichs when asked by FOCUS Online.
In view of the current epidemiological situation, abolishing the isolation would not only send the wrong signal to the population, but also a very practical decision that opened the door to the virus, Ulrichs continues. “That would put us in an even worse position for the autumn and winter season than we already are.” The purpose of the isolation is to inhibit the transmission of the virus. It has already been reduced to a minimum. “The current isolation period should definitely be maintained so that we can at least control the spread of the virus to some extent in this way,” recommends Ulrichs.
The board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, was also outraged by this proposal and accused Gassen of “opportunism”. “The isolation protects. Because this prevents others from getting infected. ”He referred to long and post-Covid – i.e. complaints after at least four and at least twelve weeks after the infection.
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Gassen, on the other hand, received backing for his claim from epidemiologist Klaus Stöhr, who advocates that Corona be treated like any other disease. At the beginning of the pandemic, the strict quarantine rules made sense, but the situation is currently relaxed despite the summer wave, he told WDR. There is therefore no reason to treat corona cases differently than other respiratory diseases.
“The corona virus circulates freely in the population,” Stöhr continues. The number of unreported infections is so high that the spread of the virus can no longer be contained by government measures.
