BERLIN – Four German regions plan to scrap rules requiring people infected with the coronavirus to isolate at home, arguing that the pandemic has evolved and it’s time for a different approach.
The health ministry in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said Friday that the region and two of its neighbors, Bavaria and Hesse, as well as Germany’s northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, were working on details of new rules.
The ministry pointed to declining infections, effective vaccinations, a high degree of population immunity, milder illnesses and the example of countries such as Austria that have loosened rules.
Bavaria said its blanket isolation mandate would end Nov. 16. The state’s health minister, Klaus Holetschek, said in a statement that the time was right to give people more individual responsibility.
“The decision doesn’t mean that we will give free rein to infections,” he said according to AP. “People who test positive will in the future have to put on a mask outside their own apartment. And of course, the principle still goes that people who are sick stay at home.”
In Germany, decisions on coronavirus rules are largely a matter for the governments of the country’s 16 states. Measures have generally been coordinated nationwide since the pandemic started in 2020, though to varying degrees, and the states enjoy a great deal of autonomy.
