Jungfrau Zeitung – quarantine period shortened to seven days
Pandemic measures | January 3, 2022
The majority of the Swiss cantons have shortened the quarantine period for people who have had close contact with an infected person to seven days. The cantons of central Switzerland and the cantons of Neuchâtel and Bern also decided on Monday.
In the canton of Bern, the quarantine for people who have had close contact with an infected person will last seven days, starting Monday.Photo: pixabay, StockSnap
On the last day of the year, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) proposed to the cantons to shorten the duration of the isolation measure for people who had close contact with an infected person from ten to seven days. This was intended to mitigate the effects of the quarantine measures on society. The functionality of society in many areas should thus be guaranteed and personnel bottlenecks avoided.
Pioneering cantons
Some cantons reacted immediately: Ticino, Geneva, Basel-Stadt, Waadt, Wallis and Jura are reducing the duration of the quarantine accordingly. In the canton of Ticino and Geneva, the adjustment has been in effect since Saturday. The new regime came into force today in Vaud, Basel-Stadt, Valais and Jura. The cantons of Friborg and Zurich also decided in the past few days to introduce this adjustment from Monday. The Conference of Health Directors in Central Switzerland announced today that Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Zug and Lucerne would also follow the relevant BAG recommendations with immediate effect. And the canton of Neuchâtel also shortened the quarantine period.
The spokesman for the Bernese Health Directorate, Gundekar Giebel, confirmed on request on Monday that the Canton of Bern was also following the BAG recommendation. The process is being adjusted.
No corresponding decision-maker has yet been made in the canton of Aargau, as it is called upon request.
Criticism from Solothurn
The Solothurn canton doctor Yvonne Hummel in writing on Monday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency that Solothurn will not make any changes to the quarantine rules for the time being. The isolation and quarantine rules would be regulated in detail at the national level. A change to the isolation and quarantine rules must therefore also be adapted at the national level by the Federal Council, said Hummel.