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In a press release Tuesday afternoon, public health department spokesman Kevin Hall said “recent cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Lexington came from a small party in which a person without symptoms unknowingly spread it to others. This is why it is important for everyone – whether they’re sick, symptomatic or seemingly fine – to follow the public health guidelines by staying home.”
The public health shift in contact tracing is part of a broader department shift from a “containment” phase to a “mitigation” phase, Humbaugh said. “We need to switch our strategy somewhat from trying to contain, to trying to slow the spread.”
Previously, if public health officials discerned, for example, 10 people had direct contact with someone positively diagnosed with COVID-19, each of those 10 would sign a written electronic agreement with the Lexington-Fayette County health department to self-quarantine at home for 14 days. Part of that included acknowledging, too, that, “I am a possible source of infection of a communicable disease,” according to a copy of the agreement.
Those actually infected who aren’t sick enough to be hospitalized sign a separate agreement, agreeing to self-isolate at home, acknowledging that they are a carrier who will cause spread of the disease. Leaving their home, “would create a serious risk and injury to the health of those individuals with whom I come into contact with, as well as the public at large,” according to a copy of that agreement.
Neither the infected nor exposed are allowed to leave Lexington while they’re being monitored, and they’re not allowed to ride in an ambulance or public transportation without public health staff permission.
Going forward, those who’ve had direct contact with an infected person are still required to self-quarantine with monitoring by public health staff, but since initiation of that process won’t fall to trained epidemiologists diligently tracking people down through contact tracing, but to the infected person, there are bound to be oversights.
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https://www.kentucky.com/news/coronavirus/article241467326.html#storylink=cpy