The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) has advised the cabinet to relax the quarantine rules in education. In this way the continuity of education can be promoted and whole classes no longer have to be sent home. Minister Kuipers of Health has sent the advice to the House of Representatives.
Children under the age of 13 no longer need to be quarantined by the OMT after contact with an infected person if they have no complaints. The advice is that they do a self-test every day. The experts also no longer have to go home if there are three or more infections.
Secondary and higher education students no longer have to be quarantined by the OMT after contact with an infected person if they have no complaints. With a daily negative self-test, they can continue to attend classes or lectures. The advice for relaxation also applies to sports teams. In case of a positive test and complaints, in all cases one must be quarantined.
In case of very large infections at a school, the GGD can still decide on a larger quarantine.
It is still unclear whether the cabinet will adopt the advice of the OMT about the quarantine. Tomorrow the cabinet will make a final decision on what to do with the OMT recommendations. Prime Minister Rutte and Minister Kuipers will give a press conference at 7 p.m.
The OMT also notes that foreign studies indicate a 40 to 60 percent lower chance of hospitalization. The number of people requiring IC care is also decreasing and the length of stay in nursing wards is becoming shorter. Furthermore, 90 percent of the over 60s who qualify for a booster have been boosted and 73 percent of the over 18s. The protection against hospitalization goes to 97 percent for those who have had a booster.
According to the OMT, the scenarios show that we are now “nearly at the lowest point in hospital and ICU admissions” and that is a “favourable starting position”.
It is good to realize, according to the OMT, that the proposed quarantine relaxation will certainly lead to an increase in the number of infections among children and students. And that could lead to more children being hospitalized as a result of MIS-C , a rare inflammatory disease. It could also lead to more cases of long-term covid among children and young people.
In addition, the relaxations certainly lead to more transfer to adults. “That taken into account and with the weighty argument of continuity of education, the OMT has come to the above advice.”Report by NOS
https://nos.nl/artikel/2414398-omt-leerlingen-zonder-klachten-niet-meer-in-quarantaine
