COVID-19 Contact Tracing

What is the necessary information to assess risk accurately?

- Location and type of interactions - Contact information for venue - Names of close contacts - Specifics on flight number, movie name, conference name, class name, facility name

Difficult to Contact Trace and Identify Exposures

- close contacts may be unknown - recall of close contacts may not be reliable - there may be too many contacts, and difficult to determine who is at highest risk for infection

Higher risk of Infection and severe Disease or Death

- may be more likely to get infected due to close contacts - more likely to have underlying medical conditions - may get exposed to the virus multiple times

Populations at increased risked may...

1. have a dense contact environment 2. be difficult to contact trace and identify exposures 3. difficult to isolate or quarantine 4. be at higher risk of infection and severe disease or death

How long should a contact stay in quarantine?

14 days following the last contact with someone who is infectious

How many days should a contact quarantine themselves after the recover of the case?

14 days following the recovery

How long should one be in isolation?

2 days before onset to at least 10 days after onset of illness; symptoms must be improving & no fever within past 3 days

How to support the person who infected?

Ensure they have access to medical care and social services (offer treatment) & limit their contact with other people

Basic Idea behind contact tracing?

If we can limit contact between people who are infected and others, we can limit opportunities for the virus to be transmitted.

Isolation?

Keeps sick people separate from healthy people

How to identify people they may have infected?

Notify them about their exposure and offer social services (offer treatment) & limit their contact with other people

What are the 3 kinds of contacts?

Physical contact, Close contact (within 6 ft for 15+ minutes), Proximate contact (more than 6 ft but in same room for extended period)

Difficult to Isolate or Quarantine

Unable to distance from others or unwilling to cooperate

How long should a case be isolated from others?

Until they fully recover (Monitor symptoms)

High-risk subpopulation

a segment of the population that has characteristics that increase the risk of infection or severe disease

Congregate housing settings

a shared living environment where each individual or family has private living quarters and shares common dining, recreation and other facilities

Who do you immediately escalate to?

a supervisor

How long should one be in quarantine?

for 14 days since the last contact with the person who is infected

Dense Contact Environment?

large crowds of people that can lead to a "super-spreading" event (unusual high R0)

quarantine?

restricts movement and contact of healthy people who have been exposed

Contact?

someone who had contact with a case while they were infectious

Case?

someone who has COVID-19 and usually has a positive lab test

What is important to identify when talking to the case and why?

when their infectious period started b/c you need to ask about their contacts from the 2 days before to the current day.