COVID-19 isolation and quarantine orders in Berlin-Reinickendorf (Germany): How many, how long and to whom?

Abstract

Isolating COVID-19 cases and quarantining their close contacts can prevent COVID-19 transmissions but also inflict harm. We analysed isolation and quarantine orders by the local public health agency in Berlin-Reinickendorf (Germany) and their dependence on the recommendations by the Robert Koch Institute, the national public health institute. Between 3 March 2020 and 18 December 2021 the local public health agency ordered 24 603 isolations (9.2 per 100 inhabitants) and 45 014 quarantines (17 per 100 inhabitants) in a population of 266 123. The mean contacts per case was 1.9. More days of quarantine per 100 inhabitants were ordered for children than for adults: 4.1 for children aged 0-6, 5.2 for children aged 7-17, 0.9 for adults aged 18-64 and 0.3 for senior citizens aged 65-110. The mean duration for isolation orders was 10.2 and for quarantine orders 8.2 days. We calculated a delay of 4 days between contact and quarantine order. 3484 contact persons were in quarantine when they developed an infection. This represents 8% of all individuals in quarantine and 14% of those in isolation. Our study quantifies isolation and quarantine orders, shows that children had been ordered to quarantine more than adults and that there were fewer school days lost to isolation or quarantine as compared to school closures. Our results indicate that the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute had an influence on isolation and quarantine duration as well as contact identification and that the local public health agency was not able to provide rigorous contact tracing, as the mean number of contacts was lower than the mean number of contacts per person known from literature. Additionally, a considerable portion of the population underwent isolation or quarantine, with a notable number of cases emerging during the quarantine period.