The medical treatment period for people infected with the new coronavirus has been shortened.
If a family member is infected, the period during which the family members living together are judged to be in "close contact" will be shortened.
How many days are people in close contact staying at home now, and is it necessary to take measures after the waiting period is over?
We've compiled the latest information for you.
Q1. What is the definition of close contact?
Where is the rich contact?
A close contact is someone who may have been infected through close or prolonged contact with an infected person.
The definition is written in the document "Guidelines for Proactive Epidemiological Surveys of Novel Coronavirus Infection Patients" (November 29, 2021 edition) published by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
On September 7, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare issued a notice to shorten the medical treatment period for those who have been infected and developed symptoms from ``10 days from the day after the onset of symptoms'' to ``7 days from the day after the onset of symptoms''. .
Based on these, the important points when judging whether you are a close contact are as follows.
[Period of contact]
▽The period from 2 days before the day when the symptoms appeared to the infected person until the criteria for recuperation and discharge are met
*7 days have passed since the day after the onset of symptoms, and 24 hours have passed since the symptoms improved Until
*Those who are hospitalized or in a facility for the elderly are the same as before, and 10 days have passed since the day after the onset of symptoms, and 72 hours have passed since the symptoms subsided
(no infected person). In the case of symptoms, from 2 days before the date of collection of the test sample to 7 days after the collection of the sample, or until the day if the test kit is negative on the 5th day from the date of collection)
[ Contact criteria]
▽If you touch an infected person without wearing a mask, or if you touch an infected person for more than 15 minutes at a distance that you can reach if you reach out to each other
▽If you directly touched something that had the infected person's bodily fluids on it If there is a possibility that there is an
infected person in the family, or if you are caring for an infected person, it is likely that many of these criteria will apply. As such, if strict infection prevention measures have been taken, they are not considered close contacts.
In addition, even if the contact lasted for more than 15 minutes, the specific conditions of the place, such as whether there was a conversation, whether it was an environment where people sang songs or shouted loudly, whether there was sufficient ventilation, etc. Depending on the situation, it will change whether it is judged as a close contact.
Q2. Rich contact Who decides in the first place?
Regarding the response to close contacts, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare allows local governments to flexibly make decisions according to local conditions, such as when the infection situation is worsening.
In addition, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's view is as follows.
Regarding whether or not you are a close contact, the response will differ depending on where the infected person occurred.
1. If there is an infected person at home If
a family member living with you becomes infected, public health centers will identify those who have been in close contact with them and ask them to restrict their activities.
This is because family members who live together are at high risk of being infected.
Even though it is “specific”, it is not necessary for the public health center to interview each individual.
2. If someone is infected at work, etc.
The risk of infection is considered to be lower than that of family members living together, and if infection control measures are taken at work, etc., there may be cases where the infection does not spread any further.
For this reason, public health centers are not required to uniformly identify close contacts.
You will have to decide whether the workplace where the infected person came out or the person you came into contact with is a close contact.
3. If an infected person appears at a medical institution, elderly facility, etc. Even if the
Omicron strain has a short incubation period and onset interval, at a facility where there are many high-risk people, the public health center will quickly identify close contacts. It is supposed to be
4. If an infected person appears at a nursery school, kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, etc. It
is desirable that local governments and boards of education work together to decide in advance how to identify close contacts.
In particular, there may be differences in the implementation status of measures such as masks for preschoolers and elementary school students and above, so there is a possibility that the response will be different.
Q3. What should I do if my family is infected and becomes a close contact person?
[how long is the home standby period?
]
If an infected person appears in a family member living together and becomes a close contact person, it is required to wait at home.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare used to set the waiting period in this case to seven days in principle, but in order to maintain socioeconomic activities, it will be five days from July 22, 2022.
[When do you count the number of days to wait?
]
1. The day the infected person developed
symptoms 2. If the infected person is asymptomatic, the day the specimen was collected
3. The day the infection was discovered and "infection control" was taken
The latest day among these 1 to 3 0 days.
From there, you will have to wait at home for 5 days, and the restrictions will be lifted on the 6th day.
However, if both of the government-approved rapid test kits (antigen qualitative tests) are negative on the second and third days, the restrictions can be lifted from the third day.
What kind of measures are the "infection measures" written in 3?
.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the "infection control" assumed this time is not a strict isolation such as completely separating rooms and eliminating all contact.
Specifically, to the extent possible in daily life,
wearing a mask ,
washing hands and disinfecting hands
, avoiding sharing of supplies, etc.,
implementing disinfection,
and frequently ventilating.
In addition, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, if it is difficult for young children to thoroughly wear masks, measures such as thorough hand washing and avoiding sharing towels can be considered.
In addition, it is necessary to take basic infection control measures as much as possible, such as ventilation and avoiding contact as much as possible.
[What if another family member develops during the waiting period?
]
If a family other than the one who was first found to be infected is confirmed to be infected during the waiting period, the number of days will be recounted.
[If a child is infected]
<Mild>
Let's consider a case where a child is confirmed to be infected and stays at home due to mild symptoms.
Even if the test results are not available, if the child has taken infection control measures at home as soon as the child develops symptoms, count the child's onset date as 0 days, and the family's home standby is 5 days. It's days.
And it will be lifted on the 6th day.
However, for example, if no particular measures were taken at home until the child was confirmed to be infected by a test two days after the onset of symptoms, the day the test was confirmed was set to day 0, and the family was treated for the following five days. will be waiting at home.
For an infected child, if the day of onset is day 0 and 24 hours have passed since the onset of symptoms, the medical treatment will be completed without examination.
*If your symptoms worsen, be sure to consult a consultation desk.
<Asymptomatic>
If an infected child is asymptomatic, the child's medical treatment period will be lifted 7 days after the specimen is collected.
(If a negative test kit is confirmed on the 5th day from the day the specimen was collected, the medical treatment can be canceled from the 6th day.)
However, measures are being taken at home until the infection is confirmed .
Otherwise, the family's stay-at-home period will be counted as day 0 when the infection is confirmed.
Whether you have symptoms or no symptoms, if you start taking infection control measures without waiting for the results on the day you take the test, you may be able to lift the stay-at-home order for those who have had close contact with you sooner.
Q4. What will you do after the stay-at-home order is lifted?
If the stay-at-home order for those who have been in close contact with the virus is lifted, they will be able to commute to work or school.
However, it does not completely eliminate the risk of developing symptoms or infecting people.
Even after this period, it is important to continue common infection control measures.
According to a report by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (January 13, 2022), if infected with the Omicron strain,
the probability of developing symptoms by the third day is 53.05%
, and the probability of developing symptoms by the fifth day is 82.65%
. The probability of developing the disease by day 1 is 94.53%.
This means that some risk may remain even after the wait is lifted.
Volunteer experts working on new coronavirus countermeasures said that these risks were not sufficiently communicated, and in the proposals compiled in August, those who had close contact were more likely to be infected than those who were not, Before, he warned that there is a risk of infecting other people, and that ``more attention is required for 7 days after contact with an infected person.''
The basic actions to be taken during these "7 days" are
: ▽If you go to work, use an antigen test kit to check for a negative result as much as possible ▽
Avoid activities that can spread the infection, such as eating out together and contacting people you don't usually meet
▽Light If you develop any symptoms, refrain from going out.
▽ Wear a non-woven mask when you come into contact with people
.
Q5. What if I become a close contact person outside my home?
[If an infected person appears at work]
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, if an infected person appears at a workplace such as an office, basically there will be no action restrictions such as waiting at home.
However, if you have been in contact with an infected person, you should visit high-risk elderly people or facilities for the elderly, eat and drink with an unspecified number of people, or participate in large-scale events for seven days from the last day of contact. It is to inform people to refrain from actions with a high risk of infection.
In addition, if you eat and drink with an infected person without taking measures such as wearing a mask at work, in addition to waiting for five days, take measures to prevent the spread of infection, such as voluntarily testing and confirming a negative result. I am asking you to take
However, caution is required in places where many people at high risk of becoming seriously ill gather, such as medical institutions and facilities for the elderly.
For this reason, if you become a close contact person, you will be asked to wait for 5 days.
At this time, as with close contact at home, if the antigen test is negative on the 2nd and 3rd days, the waiting period can be lifted from the 3rd day.
This applies to everyone, not just essential workers.
In addition, it is possible for medical and nursing care workers to go to work if they are tested daily and confirmed negative, even if they have been in close contact.
Q6. How should I live while waiting at home?
When staying at home, refrain from going out as much as possible if it is not necessary or urgent, and if you have no choice but to go out, take infection control measures such as wearing a mask and washing your hands to avoid contact with other people.
It also means that you need to refrain from commuting to work or school.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Infectious Disease Control Department, which is in charge of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's new corona measures, is doing the following.
▽Refrain from going out unnecessarily and stay at home instead of going to work or school
▽While waiting, take your temperature twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, and check for any abnormalities in your physical condition
▽Fever, cough, etc. If you have any of these symptoms, see your family doctor or a medical institution where you can be tested and treated for COVID-
19
. Avoid using public transportation as much as possible.
It is important to act with the thought that you might be infected if you do.
For those close to you who have become infected with the new coronavirus ~If you think you are a close contact~
* Leaving the NHK site
Q7. What should I do with a close contact of a close contact?
According to the Tokyo metropolitan government's infectious disease control department, when a family member comes into close contact with someone, "Since there is no concept of 'a person who has had close contact with someone who has had close contact', all family members, except for those who have had close contact, should take action. are not restricted, and the government does not restrict their actions."
However, there are cases where the workplace or school has its own rules, so please discuss with your company or school and follow the rules.
Of course, there is a possibility that a close contact person may develop symptoms while waiting and find out that they were actually infected.
In preparation for the unlikely event that they are infected, during the waiting period for the family members who have been in close contact, they
should avoid sharing towels at home, stagger meal times, etc., and live in separate spaces as much as possible.
▽ Observe cough etiquette by wearing
a mask
▽ Hand washing and alcohol disinfection
▽ Disinfect frequently touched things such as doorknobs and TV remote controls
▽ Regular ventilation.
Omicron strains are said to have a lower rate of developing severe symptoms, so you may be tempted to take them lightly. Severe cases have been reported worldwide.
Be vigilant, especially if you have family members who are at high risk of severe illness, such as those with underlying medical conditions or who are older.
Q8. What precautions should be taken to prevent re-expansion of infection?
It is known that Omicron strains are often transmitted in households.
The route of infection of the Omicron strain is the same as that of the new coronavirus so far, and it is said that the main infection is by flying, especially so-called "micro flying" (including aerosols) in poorly ventilated places. It is thought that it can be prevented by thorough infection control measures.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare cites the following precautions when family members are suspected of being infected.
1. Separate rooms
2. Only a limited number of people take care of family members suspected of being infected
3. Wear masks
4. Wash hands frequently
5. Ventilate
6. Disinfect common areas touched by hands
7 Wash dirty linens and clothes
8. Trash is sealed and thrown away
In addition, restrictions on people who have been in close contact with Omicron have been eased compared to before, but it is still important for each individual to take measures against infection.