Quarantine and testing strategies in contact tracing for SARS-CoV-2: a modelling study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In most countries, contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases are asked to quarantine for 14 days after exposure to limit asymptomatic onward transmission. While theoretically effective, this policy places a substantial social and economic burden on both the individual and wider society, which might result in low adherence and reduced policy effectiveness. We aimed to assess the merit of testing contacts to avert onward transmission and to replace or reduce the length of quarantine for uninfected contacts.

Methods

We used an agent-based model to simulate the viral load dynamics of exposed contacts, and their potential for onward transmission in different quarantine and testing strategies. We compared the performance of quarantines of differing durations, testing with ei

SUBMITTER: Quilty BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7826085 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature