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what to do if someone in your house has covid-19
covid-19 has a transmission rate of 53 per cent once it makes through the front door of your home. here's how to prepare.
wear masks in common areas and other suggestions if somone you live with gets the virus.
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covid-19 has a transmission rate of 53 per cent — drastically higher than previously suspected — once it makes through the front door of your home, according to a new study from the us centers for disease control and prevention. the cdc is urging people to isolate themselves from the rest of the family immediately upon exposure and wear masks in common areas even before getting tested for the virus.
“because prompt isolation of persons with covid-19 can reduce household transmission, persons who suspect that they might have covid-19 should isolate, stay at home, and use a separate bedroom and bathroom if feasible,” a cdc-led team of researchers wrote in the study, which was published in the agency’s morbidity and mortality weekly report.
researchers followed just over 100 people who were infected with covid-19 in nashville, tennessee and marshfield, wisconsin between april and september. infected individuals — and the 191 other family members living in their respective homes — were instructed to self-collect nasal swabs and/or saliva samples for a two-week period.
they didn’t have to wait long for results: 53 per cent of household members living with an infected individual contracted the virus within a week, according to cnn, with three-quarters of these secondary infections happening with five days of the initial patient showing symptoms. previous research had suggested the household transmission rate was in the range of 20 to 40 per cent. age did not prove to be a factor.
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“substantial transmission occurred whether the index patient was an adult or a child,” researchers said.
the team stressed the urgency of taking preventative measures immediately if there has been a risk of exposure. “an important finding of this study is that fewer than one half of household members with confirmed sars-cov-2 infections reported symptoms at the time infection was first detected,” they said. “many reported no symptoms throughout seven days of follow up, underscoring the potential for transmission from asymptomatic secondary contacts and the importance of quarantine.”
while it can be difficult to keep your distance from family members, especially in smaller homes, it’s important to try, said pediatrician tanya altmann. “if it’s a child that you have to care for, then you may have to make the decision to isolate one adult with the child,” she said. “that adult would be caring for the child, and the other adult would be responsible for the rest of family.”
“unfortunately,” she added, “you need to keep the whole household under isolation. the patterns of covid-19 spread suggest that clusters of people who live close together are at highest risk of getting it from one another. if children are part of that household, they may show minimal symptoms but still be contagious.”
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it’s time to identify the helpers
now may be the time to reach out to the people around you for help, even if you haven’t been previously close, said jenny radesky, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the american academy of pediatrics. “know who your neighbours are, even what your neighbourhood social network might be,” she said. “you may not be that close interpersonally, but someone may be willing to do a grocery store drop-off, or pick up medications because we’re all in this together.”
if there is an infection in the home, the cdc recommends not sharing glassware, utensils, bedding or towels with anyone else and using disposable gloves (and throwing them away) after doing the laundry. “you can have a healthy person leave the sick one food and drinks at the door, and then go wash their hands,” altmann said. “wear gloves to pick up the empty plates, take them back to the kitchen and wash them in hot water with soap, or preferably with a dishwasher, and wash your hands again.”
household members that test positive, but do not exhibit any symptoms, are free to stop isolating after 10 days from the date of their positive test, the cdc says. those with symptoms should wait until 10 days have passed since the symptoms arrived, provided the symptoms are improving without the use of fever-reducing drugs.
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“a limited number of persons with severe illness may produce replication-competent virus beyond 10 days that may warrant extending duration of isolation and precautions for up to 20 days after symptom onset,” the cdc says. “consider consultation with infection control experts.”
dave yasvinski is a freelance writer for healthing.ca
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