Quarantine only 5 days instead of 10? Federal Councilor Berset and the cantons warn – Switzerland

For the second time since summer vacation, Federal Councilor Alain Berset met yesterday with cantonal health directors. There were not only discussions about important events, the upcoming ski season and the question of testing, but also about: How long should the quarantine last?

In Switzerland there are two reasons that lead to a quarantine obligation. Quarantine must be …

• … who has had close contact with an infected person. According to the BAG, “close contact” means that someone has been in the vicinity – a distance of less than 1.5 meters – of an infected person for more than 15 minutes without protection (hygiene mask or physical barrier such as Plexiglas).
• … coming from a risky country, more precisely: who has been in a state or area with the highest risk of contagion in the last 14 days, according to the list of countries of the FOPH. “You are then obliged to go directly to your apartment or other suitable accommodation immediately after entering the country,” says the BAG brochure.

There are currently around 12,000 people in quarantine

Ten days, that’s a long time. This period, which has been in effect since April, means that quarantine is often not followed. That’s forbidden, but it happens anyway. There are currently around 12,000 people under quarantine in Switzerland. There are no figures on quarantine objectors.

Epidemiologist Nicola Low, a member of the federal Covid task force, said in NZZ that a shorter quarantine could encourage people to better follow the rules. She noted that the actual quarantine time for most of those affected is already less than ten days. Because the count starts from the day of the last contact with a contagious person.

So should the quarantine officially be cut in half to five days, as the well-known virologist Christian Drosten suggested in Germany? Bern health director Pierre-Alain Schnegg (SVP) was sympathetic to this proposal. Also with a view to other countries. France has announced that the quarantine will be reduced from 14 to 7 days.

The wrong signal in view of the increasing number of cases

But Switzerland will maintain its ten-day quarantine, which is clear after Alain Berset’s meeting with cantonal health directors yesterday, as the CH Media editorial team learned. Also present: the cantonal doctor from Zug Rudolf Hauri, president of the Cantonal Doctors Association. In view of the increasing number of cases, so the tenor of the meeting, a relaxation now would be an incorrect sign. Aargau government adviser Jean-Pierre Gallati (SVP) says:

According to Gallati, Aargau’s figures show that the risk is still too great after five days. According to the canton’s doctor, about half of them are still at risk of infection.

That is the crucial question: how long is someone contagious? The decisive factor is the incubation period, that is, the time between infection and the appearance of the first symptoms. According to the World Health Organization, it is five days on average. Virologist Drosten said on his podcast that the new data would show that five days after the first symptoms appear, around 90 percent of those infected are no longer contagious. But the studies on this are conflicting.

That is why the federal government and the cantons take a risk and leave the 10-day rule unchanged. The Aargau government advisor, Gallati, previously deviated from the federal government’s recommendations (cantons can do so in certain cases), but here is clear:

By the way, anyone with symptoms is not only quarantined, they are isolated. Its duration depends on the result of the test. If it is positive, the responsible cantonal office will intervene and give instructions.