On Wednesday, October 21, the CDC updated the definition of close contact. This update will be incorporated into FCPL’s procedures for contact tracing in the event of a positive case. We encourage everyone to become familiar with the new definition:
Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.
* Individual exposures added together over a 24-hour
period (e.g., three 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes). Data are
limited, making it difficult to precisely define “close contact;” however,
15 cumulative minutes of exposure at a distance of 6 feet or less can be used
as an operational definition for contact investigation. Factors to consider
when defining close contact include proximity (closer distance likely increases
exposure risk), the duration of exposure (longer exposure time likely increases
exposure risk), whether the infected individual has symptoms (the period around
onset of symptoms is associated with the highest levels of viral shedding), if
the infected person was likely to generate respiratory aerosols (e.g., was
coughing, singing, shouting), and other environmental factors (crowding,
adequacy of ventilation, whether exposure was indoors or outdoors). Because the
general public has not received training on proper selection and use of
respiratory PPE, such as an N95, the determination of close contact
should generally be made irrespective of whether the contact was wearing respiratory
PPE. At this time, differential determination of close contact for those
using fabric face coverings is not recommended.
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