Home clusters contribute to spurt in Covid cases in state

FIGHTING COVID-19

Home clusters contribute to spurt in Covid cases in state

Preetu.Nair@timesgroup.com

Kochi:31.07.2021 

It is not community clusters but home clusters that are becoming the major cause of Covid-19 infection spread in the state. Public health experts said that it is no surprise then that despite lockdown restrictions in place, Kerala is seeing an increase in cases. Unlike in the past, now family members of an infected person are neither tested nor placed in home quarantine.

As on July 29, about ,54,080 people are under observation in Kerala. Of these, 4,26,600 are either under home or institutional quarantine and 27,480 ho- spitalized. Majority are now in-home quarantine with most of the CFLTCs now dysfunctional.

“If Kerala government wants to bring down the cases, then the focus has to shift from lockdown restrictions and complete lockdown to contact tracing and testing of infected persons and strict quarantine for all contacts too. This was done in the initial phase of Covid, but now there is no mechanism to ensure this,” said Dr Jayakrishnan A V, chairman of Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) committee on Covid vaccines and vaccination strategy.

Officials in the health department admit that it is technically more difficult to avoid home clusters than community clusters because interactions leading to community clusters can be limited by government intervention, but the same is not possible when it comes to home clusters. With cases surging, some of the local bodies through Asha workers are trying to reach out to those in-home quarantine and check on their family members too.

“What we can partially do is that if even one person at home is tested positive, then the rest of the family members must wear mask for seven to 10 days, especially during interactions at home, because we don’t know who is in the incubation period,” said Dr Anish T S, associate professor, community medicine, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College and public health consultant with the disaster management authority.

Added with this, now vaccinated people are also silently spreading the infection to other unvaccinated people at home.

“In Kerala, people’s mask wearing rate has always been high. But the reason for the spread of cases is socially meeting relatives and friends. We are social beings and can’t stay in isolation for long. Therefore, we need to continue to wear masks, ensure social distancing and absolutely avoid mass gatherings until the vast majority are vaccinated. If our intensive care and oxygen beds start filling up meanwhile, further restrictions will become necessary,” added Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, lead researcher of IMA-Kochi’s national survey on post-vaccination symptoms and experiences of Healthcare Workers in India.