Forced isolation the proven way to cut Covid-19 transmission
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Beijing/Sydney — Flare-ups from Australia to Japan show the world has not learnt an early lesson from the coronavirus crisis: to stop the spread, those with mild or symptom-free coronavirus infections must be forced to isolate, both from their communities and family.
In Australia, where Victoria state has been reporting record deaths, about 3,000 checks in July on people who should have been isolating at home found 800 were out and about. In Japan, where the virus has roared back, people are staying home but are not in isolation: 40% of elderly patients are getting sick from family members in the same apartments.
The failure to effectively manage contagious people with mild or no symptoms is a driving factor behind some of the world’s worst resurgences. But lessons from Italy, South Korea and others that have successfully contained large-scale outbreaks show that there is a tried-and-tested approach to cutting off transmission: move them out of their homes into centralised facilities while they get over their infections, which usually does not require longer than a few weeks.
“A laissez-faire approach naively trusting everyone to be responsible has been shown to be ineffective, as there will always be a proportion who will breach the terms of the isolation,” said Jeremy Lim, adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
Faced with a new cluster this week after 102 days without a locally transmitted case, New Zealand has quickly enacted this strategy, placing about 30 people — including at least two children below the age of 10 — into centralised quarantine.
But other countries facing sustained spread such as Australia and the US are not broadly enacting the policy despite its proven track record. Their unwillingness — or inability — to do so underscores the challenges faced by liberal democracies whose populations are less likely to tolerate measures that require individual sacrifice for the greater good.
Not at home
The existence of a large group of carriers who hardly feel sick is a unique feature of the coronavirus crisis, and a major factor that has driven its rapid spread across the globe. Unlike in previous outbreaks such as the 2003 SARS epidemic, many infected people do not feel ill enough to stay home, and so spread the pathogen widely as they go about their daily lives.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated ...
In Australia, where Victoria state has been reporting record deaths, about 3,000 checks in July on people who should have been isolating at home found 800 were out and about. In Japan, where the virus has roared back, people are staying home but are not in isolation: 40% of elderly patients are getting sick from family members in the same apartments.
The failure to effectively manage contagious people with mild or no symptoms is a driving factor behind some of the world’s worst resurgences. But lessons from Italy, South Korea and others that have successfully contained large-scale outbreaks show that there is a tried-and-tested approach to cutting off transmission: move them out of their homes into centralised facilities while they get over their infections, which usually does not require longer than a few weeks.
“A laissez-faire approach naively trusting everyone to be responsible has been shown to be ineffective, as there will always be a proportion who will breach the terms of the isolation,” said Jeremy Lim, adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
Faced with a new cluster this week after 102 days without a locally transmitted case, New Zealand has quickly enacted this strategy, placing about 30 people — including at least two children below the age of 10 — into centralised quarantine.
But other countries facing sustained spread such as Australia and the US are not broadly enacting the policy despite its proven track record. Their unwillingness — or inability — to do so underscores the challenges faced by liberal democracies whose populations are less likely to tolerate measures that require individual sacrifice for the greater good.
Not at home
The existence of a large group of carriers who hardly feel sick is a unique feature of the coronavirus crisis, and a major factor that has driven its rapid spread across the globe. Unlike in previous outbreaks such as the 2003 SARS epidemic, many infected people do not feel ill enough to stay home, and so spread the pathogen widely as they go about their daily lives.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated ...
