Erfurt (dpa/th) - After talks with the health ministers of the federal and state governments, Thuringia's department head Heike Werner confirmed that she wanted to stick to the isolation requirement for people infected with corona in the state. "I would also propose that to the cabinet," said the left-wing politician on Monday after the deliberations. The relatively new omicron subline BQ.1.1 is increasingly being found in wastewater monitoring. According to Werner, this is associated with an increased risk of infection.
Both Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and the President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, advised against relaxing the corona rules, said Werner. She also drew attention to the danger of Post Covid and Long Covid. The German patient guidelines define complaints that persist for more than four weeks after the corona infection as long covid, and they last longer than twelve weeks as post covid subform.
"Germany has a special situation because there are more older people in Germany," said Werner. Older people in particular are often seriously ill with Covid-19. She regretted that the countries did not find a common line on the obligation to isolate. In the meantime, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate have lifted the isolation requirement of at least five days for those who tested positive, which the RKI still recommends.
Werner made it clear that for the time being she is still in favor of maintaining the mask requirement in local public transport. You have to keep an eye on the infections. "We don't know exactly what will come in the next two, three or four weeks, so we have to wait and see at this point," she said. For long-distance trains, the mask requirement is stipulated by law nationwide until April 7, 2023.
