Janis Kliphardt (Emery)
The word "quarantine" comes from the Italian word for forty,
forty days was the medieval standard for public-health-related isolation.
As we try to see past our stay at home orders,
to extend our network of social distancing,
our questions will lead to more questions...
We are living in a time of cognitive dissonance.
How will re-opening unfold in different parts of the country? the world?
Which of our daily habits will return as we once knew them,
and which will never be as before?
The future won't look like the past,
the young will shape our habits and patterns in our new normal.
Testing and contact tracing are fundamental to getting coronavirus under control, otherwise we're flying blind as politicians lure us out these days.
Re-opening will take massive testing (and retesting) and contact tracing those people who test positive.
People must be monitored with quick turnaround tests,
those who test positive must be quarantined for 14 days, and interviewed,
to proceed with contact tracing to warn contacts of exposure in order to halt chains of transmission.
Contacts are provided with education, information, and support to understand their risk, what they should do to separate themselves from others who were not exposed, monitor themselves for illness, and the possibility that they can spread the infection even if they themselves do not feel ill.
Contacts are encouraged to stay home and maintain social distance from others (at least 6 feet) until 14 days after their last exposure, in case they also become ill. They should monitor themselves by checking their temperature twice daily and watching for cough or shortness of breath. To the extent possible, public health staff should check in with contacts to make sure they are self-monitoring and have not developed symptoms.
Contacts who develop symptoms should promptly quarantine themselves and notify public health staff.
If the contact tests positive,
quarantine continues for 14 days,
and the interviewing and contact tracing progresses from there.
We need a tracing army to contact people who were exposed to the coronavirus to treat the web of those infected with covid-19.
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