Crucial professions are stirring quarantine rules

Photo: ANP

More and more sectors are calling for the relaxation of the quarantine rules due to personnel problems due to infections. Various sector organizations of crucial professions, such as security guards and waste processors, want clarity from the government. Quarantine advice would come this week for the crucial professions.

At the moment, someone who has had a booster shot more than a week ago and has no complaints, does not have to quarantine after contact with an infected person. People who have tested positive and recovered less than eight weeks ago also do not have to quarantine, provided they do not have corona-related complaints.

The NVRD, the industry association for public and municipal waste companies, says that the quarantine advice would come before January 21, but that this date has been adjusted on the government website to “soon”. According to NVRD director Wendy de Wild, employees in other places are filling gaps in the schedule, office staff are “standby to help” and scaling down plans are ready. The association wants employees without complaints, of which a roommate or close contact has tested positive, to be able to work, for example by self-testing daily and wearing mouth caps.

The Dutch Security Industry warns that in the worst case, almost half of all security personnel in the Netherlands must be quarantined after close contact with an infected person. “That would be disastrous for safety in many places in social life,” says chairman and former minister Ard van der Steur. “It should not be the case that limited capacity in crucial professions, including security, stands in the way of further opening of our society,” said the chairman.

Airline KLM already indicated that it would “proactively” cancel flights between 7 February and 13 March due to the high absenteeism among staff due to corona infections and quarantine obligations. The Central Bureau for Food Trade (CBL), the trade association for supermarkets, warned on Wednesday about empty shelves if the quarantine rules for supermarket employees are not relaxed. Many supermarket employees are younger than 18 years old and cannot yet receive a booster shot, so they are not exempted from the quarantine obligation.