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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
While Covid-19 is now part of our existence, two important measures related to the virus will disappear. This is the end of the systematic isolation of people who test positive and screening tests for contact cases. Two announcements made by the Directorate General of Health (DGS).
Many measures were decided following the appearance of the Covid-19 virus, such as the isolation of people who tested positive and the screening test for people called “contact cases”. Two rules which will be officially abandoned on February 1, following the improvement of the figures linked to the disease. There are currently 16,000 hospitalized patients compared to 25,000 at the end of December.
An announcement made by the Directorate General of Health
For the Directorate General of Health (DGS), this decision is justified by a “favorable epidemic context, marked by very low viral circulation in mainland France and overseas“, just as by the “similar strategies in all European countries“.
“On the other hand, as with any illness with an acute respiratory infection, it remains strongly recommended that people who test positive for Covid-19, as well as people who have been exposed to a contagious person and likely to develop the disease, respect barrier gestures, to be tested and to avoid contact with fragile people” continues the Directorate General of Health, by means of a press release.
In addition to this decision, the DGS is also announcing the end of the Health Insurance “Contact Covid” teleservice, whose role was to identify and take care of patients and their contact cases. The SI-DEP system, which grouped the test results, is maintained until the end of June 2023, but it will only be used with the “Prior collection of the consent of the persons concerned to the sharing of their personal data“says the DGS again.
End of sick leave without deficiency
The DGS also reports “the end of the derogatory system for covering sick leave linked to Covid-19“. So derogatory work stoppages, without a waiting day for people who test positive, will no longer be possible from February 1, according to a decree published on Saturday January 28 in the Official newspaper. An early end to the device, the government initially planning to remove it at the end of the year “at the latest”.
The opinion of Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo
“These announced changes are good news, I have been advocating for a reduction in these measures for a long time.” explains the doctor. “We must have more realistic measures to continue to fight the virus. For example, contact tracing was an expensive measure that did not work” he adds. “These are good decisions, which come a little late, but which had to be taken“.