| Title: |
Assessment of Day-7 Postexposure Testing of Asymptomatic Contacts of COVID-19 Patients to Evaluate Early Release from Quarantine — Vermont, May–November 2020 ; MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep |
| Contributors: |
Jones, Amanda; Fialkowski, Veronica; Prinzing, Lauren; Trites, Jeffrey; Kelso, Patsy; Levine, Mark |
| Source: |
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 70(1):12-13 |
| Collection: |
CDC Stacks (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) |
| Subject Terms: |
Full Report; Asymptomatic Diseases; Athletes; CoronaVirus Infections; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing; Contact Tracing; Guideline Adherence; Guidelines as Topic; Humans; Public Policy; Quarantine; Time Factors; Universities; Young Adult |
| Subject Geographic: |
Vermont |
| Description: |
On May 8, 2020, the Vermont Department of Health (VDH) issued a Health Update* recommending shortening the duration of quarantine for persons exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that causes coronaVirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Exposed persons who were in quarantine could be tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on or after quarantine day 7. Those who had remained asymptomatic throughout quarantine and who received a negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR test result on or after day 7 could end quarantine. This policy was based on a report suggTesting that symptom onset occurs within this time frame in approximately three quarters of COVID-19 cases (1) and on consultation of the Vermont Health Commissioner with the U.S. Surgeon General. VDH implemented this policy to minimize restrictions on state residents, recognizing that some reduction could occur in the Prevention benefit of quarantine to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. State-run SARS-CoV-2 tTesting sites were made available to increase access to no-cost tTesting and facilitate implementation of this policy. During August 1-December 1, among persons seeking tTesting at a VDH SARS-CoV-2 tTesting site, 36% stated that their reason for seeking tTesting was to end quarantine early (VDH, unpublished data, December 7, 2020), indicating that persons were aware of and following the policy and using the tTesting services provided. To assess the effectiveness of this policy, VDH analyzed tTesting data for contacts of persons with a COVID-19 Diagnosis. During May 8-November 16, VDH identified 8,798 exposed contacts of COVID-19 patients; 3,983 (45%) had sought tTesting within 14 days of their exposure, with day 0 defined as the date of last exposure noted in the case investigation record. Among these persons, 2,200 (55%) who received tTesting on days 7-10 were included in this Analysis; 977 (44.9%) of these contacts had a specimen collected for tTesting on day 7. Among these, 34 (3%) had test results that were positive, 940 (96%) had results that were negative, and three ( |
| Document Type: |
other/unknown material |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/101135 |
| Availability: |
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/101135 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.4FAB4320 |
| Database: |
BASE |