Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Contact Tracing Will Be Essential To Controlling Covid-19

Contact tracing, for example, is a focused strategy for breaking transmission chains and controlling the spread of disease.

It involves identifying infected persons; taking steps to prevent an infected person from further spreading infection, whether through isolation or treatment, if an effective treatment option exists; identifying those with whom the infected person may have been in close contact while infectious; and, finally, locating and testing these close contacts.

If a close contact is found to be infected, the disease-investigation process starts again.

The Centers for Disease Control's Ebola control strategy illustrates how contact tracing can work.

Being within six feet of someone for a prolonged period; or caring for, visiting, or living with a Covid-19 infected person, qualifies as close contact.

To work effectively contact tracing depends on certain preconditions-especially no existing barriers to testing.

Contact tracing is most effective as a means of containing flareups.

https://www.city-journal.org/covid-19-contact-tracing

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