The teacher at an elementary school in California wasn’t feeling well but still reported two days of instruction, which included reading aloud to her students. She was not vaccinated but still taught without using a mask.
She was tested and found to be infected. Within days, 12 students in his class, out of 22 tested, were also found to be infected, most of them sitting in the front two rows. Although the United States began vaccinating minors, students at this elementary school were too young to be eligible.
The infections occurred despite student desks being six feet apart, despite classroom doors and windows remaining open and despite an air filter being installed in the room. The virulence was not surprising: the infections involved the Delta variant.
The outbreak was reported in the latest issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report which was used for an infographic showing classroom seating arrangements and assigned seats. The infographic also featured a reiteration of COVID-19 prevention measures: vaccination, masks, staying home if you have symptoms, and periodic testing.
This was just one of many examples of actual contact tracing that goes beyond cold statistics and ends up being used for public information and education that is more effective because people can see what is the real situation, instead of just anonymous numbers and breeding rates.
Information campaigns are tricky in the US with Americans who still don’t believe COVID-19 is a serious threat, or that masks and vaccines work, opposing any rule or law supposedly because ‘it violates an individual’s freedom.
China, meanwhile, pursues a zero-tolerance policy that aims to eradicate every epidemic as quickly as possible.
Its latest outbreak began in late July, when an inbound Russian passenger landed in Nanjing with an infection. Nine cleaners who entered the plane just after passengers had disembarked were infected, who then transmitted the infection to other cleaners. A total of 60 cleaners tested positive, but by then they had spread the infection to others in Nanjing, including visitors who then brought the infections to 50 cities in 17 provinces, a total of 235 cases. From the start of the epidemic, new infections fell to zero before the end of the month.
The key to the rapid eradication of the epidemic was massive testing, followed by quarantine in the affected areas (not entire cities), as well as a government order issued on August 9 naming airports , seaports and several other public places where masks were to be required. Mahjong parlors were also included and the reason was simple: cases were also reported in these parlors.
Here we see how contact tracing is implemented effectively and then immediately translated into public policy to protect public health.
With the Philippines planning to stop large-scale lockdowns and become granular, meaning smaller geographies, we will need better contact tracing in the way it is done, analyzed, and then translated into public policy .
We seemed to have done better in the early months of the pandemic last year. I remember reading reports from the Department of Health about clusters of infections associated with activities or events as diverse as birthday parties (no, not the general’s), cockfights, workers in the building blocked on their sites and even a swearing-in ceremony.
These outbreaks should be made public (with data confidentiality), along with lessons learned. One example is the December 2020 outbreak at the Philippine Military Academy, where officials thought students were safe in a bubble because they were confined to campus, but Academy officials forgot. staff who lived away.
It’s not easy to search for contacts. I completed an American online course (Coursera) on this subject last year and it included long sessions on how to get people to cooperate and give useful answers, in addition to determining the periods of incubation, convincing people to stay home or quarantine.
Then there is the reporting system, which requires well-designed apps and software…a problem in the Philippines given our tendency to have different uncoordinated systems.
Unless we develop a good contact tracing system and connect it to our public information systems, especially for government officials and COVID managers, we will continue to resort to unnecessary lockdowns and to confusing rules and regulations, including ECQs of the eternal kind and economic ruin. .
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