The Minister of Health has already confirmed that the 6th wave of coronavirus infections has hit Romania, so this is no longer a surprise, but the measures that were announced by Alexandru Rafila are surprising, and this is because hospitals will no longer close, just like in wave 5.
The Minister of Health says that the mandatory isolation in homes will not return, nor will the verification of compliance with the isolation, and the obligation to wear a mask anywhere outside of hospitals is very far away, a special legislation being necessary for such a measure.
"No, it will not be an approach of this kind (ed. asked if hospitals will be closed for non-COVID patients), at most the wards or hospitals for infectious diseases will have this type of activity. At the Matei Bals Institute, for example, the number of patients with other infectious pathologies decreased, and the number of patients infected with the Coronavirus increased.
We are trying, and I think everyone has enough experience at the moment, to organize wards, compartments, areas in the hospital, with patients infected with COVID. Some of them have other diseases and need other types of medical care, without turning whole hospitals into COVID hospitals.
Public health is also protected, on the other hand, because we have to control this pandemic wave. Obviously, if he is infected and is symptomatic, he must stay at home (n. ed. asked if there will still be mandatory legal isolation), as with any kind of infectious disease, isolation prevents transmission.
There is no longer the issue of verifying compliance with isolation by the police or gendarmerie, because many times the result of such approaches is superior to a coercive one, which does nothing but generate tension and even opposition to such measures. 5, isolation is recommended, certainly patients who are not vaccinated at all, have a recommendation for up to 7 days, but certainly if the clinical evolution is favorable, and the symptoms disappear, the activity can be resumed.
As far as I know, there is no intention of the Government to re-impose the obligation to wear a protective mask, a special legislation is needed for such a measure. We cannot impose something like this, as a ministry, and again I return to the idea that a voluntary participation in the individual and collective protection of the population is more effective than the imposition of coercive, mandatory measures, and I am thinking of the correct use of the mask."
