PHOTO GALLERY. The pandemic is already marked by the predominance of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. It is more transmissible than the previous ones and has produced explosive increases in cases of people with COVID-19 in most countries where community circulation already occurs. Therefore, it is not uncommon for a member of a family to get the coronavirus and for other members to suspect that they also have the disease. When should everyone isolate themselves?, according to the infobae portal.
The coronavirus is transmitted by close proximity to an already infected person both indoors and outdoors. It is also transmitted from infected people and can become airborne, especially in places with poor ventilation. People who exhale it in droplets or aerosols can be infected without showing symptoms. A home in which people spend many hours a day together is a place that favors the spread of the coronavirus.
Today it is considered that COVID-19 should be suspected when a person has symptoms such as fever (37.5°C or more), cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, headache, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, rhinitis/congestion runny nose or have had a sudden loss of taste or smell.
It must be taken into account that a person who has received a complete vaccination schedule against COVID-19, and at least 14 days have passed since the last dose, may also have been infected with the coronavirus. All people who are diagnosed with COVID-19 today should contact a health professional to report it to the health system in their country.
1- A person living with another with COVID-19 could go to work
Consulted by Infobae, the specialist of the Communication Commission of the Argentine Society of Infectious Diseases and infectious disease doctor of the Olivos Clinic, of the Swiss Medical Group, and of the Santa Rosa Hospital of the Vicente López party, Leda Guzzi, pointed out: “In this context In the current situation, there were many cases of COVID-19 and the operation of essential services, both public and private, was put in jeopardy. It should also be considered that people who have already been vaccinated have a lower viral load if they become infected and have a shorter time to excrete the virus, and that many workplaces follow prevention protocols. For this reason, today the close contacts of people with COVID-19 can go to work with good quality and ventilated masks and go to buy food, without having social gatherings. Before, close contacts had to quarantine, but today the circumstances are different if we take into account the vaccination rate and the transmissibility of the Omicron variant.”
People living with patients with COVID-19 and already vaccinated can go to work today according to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health of the Nation. “People who live together must be aware that today they do not isolate themselves at work due to the current epidemiological situation. It is not a decision that is without risk. It arises from the need to keep essential services running. People who live with patients with COVID-19 should be alert if they have any symptoms. In case of symptoms, they must be isolated because they become positive cases as they are an epidemiological link. In this way, they will avoid contagion to other people,” said Dr. Guzzi.
2- The person with COVID-19 must be isolated inside the house with respect to their cohabitants
Isolation is not the same for both a person with COVID-19 and their partners. It depends on whether or not others also have COVID-19 and what their vaccination status was prior to infection. If a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, they must isolate themselves within their home and from the rest of their household members if they do not have the disease.
In Argentina, the recommendation of the Ministry of Health of the Nation is that if a person has a diagnosis of COVID-19 and had accessed the complete initial vaccination schedule (with less than five months of having completed the initial schedule or applied the dose of booster), you should only isolate for 7 days from the date of symptom onset (or from the date of diagnosis if asymptomatic). People with whom you have had contact within 48 hours prior to the onset of symptoms (or, if asymptomatic, two days prior to diagnosis) should be advised that they must self-quarantine.
Instead, if a person receives a diagnosis of COVID-19 and was not vaccinated or had not completed the primary vaccination schedule, they must isolate for 10 days from the date of onset of symptoms (or from the date of diagnosis if asymptomatic). . Another option is to isolate yourself for 7 days, and carry out a test from the seventh day.
3- The quarantine guidelines of the cohabitants may vary according to the previous vaccination status
Meanwhile, cohabitants should take into account if they are already within the category of close contact and should follow the specific guidelines according to their status regarding vaccination against COVID-19. The health authorities of different countries have made recent modifications in relation to the quarantine that close contacts should do (or not).
That person should be immediately isolated from others. Anyone who has just been diagnosed with COVID-19 should be assumed to be potentially infectious. The person who tested positive may not have been the first person to get COVID-19, and other members may also test positive.
4- If everyone in a house has COVID-19 they do not need to isolate each other
If all household members have COVID-19, they do not need to isolate from each other. That is because it is quite unlikely that they have different variants of the coronavirus. They all probably got the same variant from each other, and they won’t re-infect each other as quickly. The whole family, of course, needs to isolate itself from other people, said Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst, emergency room doctor and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. .
5- Parents with a child with COVID-19 should assess risks
If there is a child with COVID-19 in a household and the adults do not have the disease, it is advisable to assess the risks in the situation. If the child is young, he will need more care and attention from an adult. If parents or primary caregivers are vaccinated, including booster doses, and generally healthy, the risk of infection and serious illness is lower. On the other hand, if there is another child in the same household who is not vaccinated, they will have a higher risk of serious illness compared to another who is immunized.
If a young child is diagnosed with COVID-19 and other family members are at risk of serious illness, a bubble should be formed within the home with the child and one parent, according to Dr. Wen, a medical analyst at the CNN network. In that scenario, he recommends dividing the home. In this way, one of the parents will take care of the child with COVID-19 and the other will take care of the child who does not have it. The two “groups” or “capsules” must not interact with each other during the isolation period.
6- Use a mask and chinstrap during care with children with COVID-19
Parents or caregivers should wear masks or face coverings when in the same room with children with COVID-19. Permanent cross ventilation with open windows can help. The rest of the cohabitants should not share any interior space. They should sleep in different rooms, not share the same bathroom, and not gather indoors during this time.
7- During isolation it is recommended not to leave the house
Technically, isolation means that the person with COVID-19 has to be indoors and away from others. From the onset of symptoms, up to 97% of infected people are contagious within 7 days. Some patients are contagious even more days.
But if a person with COVID-19 lives in a place that does not involve sharing spaces with other people to get some fresh air, they could go out. You should be very careful and stay far away from others. Indoor spaces should not be shared with people either. These concerns are advised to avoid infecting others.
8- The duration of isolation due to COVID-19 varies according to the vaccination status
If a person has COVID confirmed by testing or by epidemiological link, the duration of isolation varies depending on previous vaccination status. The new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention essentially shorten the isolation period from 10 days to five days, with an additional five days of mask wearing. This means that you must remain completely isolated for the first five days. After that, you can go out (to work, the grocery store, etc.), but you must wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask when in public spaces. You cannot go to places where the person will be without a mask, such as restaurants.
When it comes to people in the same family, this guideline means that they really should not eat together or have other casual encounters without masks or face coverings with uninfected family members in the 10-day period. If the families are in two groups, they should not mix for 10 days inside the house.
If a person with COVID-19 who was not vaccinated, must maintain isolation for 10 days in Argentina
In contrast, in Argentina, the recommendations are different. If a person with COVID-19 who was not vaccinated, they must maintain isolation for 10 days. If she was fully immunized, she should follow only 7 days of isolation and another 3 days of special care, such as avoiding social gatherings. To count the days, the day of the onset of symptoms or testing in asymptomatic cases is taken into account.
Based on UK analyzes of vaccine effectiveness, transmissibility and risk of hospitalization for the Omicron variant, it is known that having the COVID-19 vaccination with the booster dose gives high protection against the risk of hospitalisation. The effectiveness in preventing symptomatic disease in people who have spent more than 6 months following their primary regimen is less than 5%. On the other hand, in those who have completed their primary scheme within six months it is between 15 and 20%; while after the application of a booster dose, the effectiveness to prevent infection is more than 60%, and almost 90% to prevent hospitalization.
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