The CDC just dropped some new guidelines and even though it’s just a small edit, it could end up making some big changes. Previously they defined “close contact” as being within six-feet of someone infected with COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes or more.
What’s that mean? That it’s actually 15-minutescumulativelyover a 24-hour period. According to Johns Hopkins University senior scholar Amesh Adalja this is basically just a way to let everyone know that there’s “nothing ‘magical’ about 15 minutes.”
You could get infected after spending 16 minutes with someone or you could get the ‘rona from spending one minute with someone that’s infected,15 times that day. Adalja says “this emphasizes social distancing and face coverings” along with avoiding crowds and washing your hands. Here’s what else this could mean:
- The biggest effect could be on schools and offices. As epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers points out, it’s super easy to rack up this exposure time in places like work or school. “A few minutes at the water cooler, a few minutes in the elevator, and so on.” Rivers expects “this will result in many more people being identified as close contacts.”
- This can impact contact tracing. As if contact tracing wasn’t difficult enough, this is going to add a whole lot more people to the list of folks that need to get checked when there’s a new outbreak. This also could mean a lot more people are going to get asked to isolate or quarantine as well. In other words, don’t tear down your home office just yet.
Source:HuffPost