Home isolation dos and don’ts Regimen for kin of contacts

Kinsuk Basu, TT, 29.04.20, Calcutta: The health department has issued directives on what family members of a Covid-19 contact person must do while being quarantined at home.

The directives mention, among other measures, the list of things a person in home quarantine cannot share with others — towels, bed, plates, glass, cups and other items of daily use.

Only one person will be allowed to take care of the contact. Apart from that person, no one will enter his or her room.

The caregiver must wear disposable gloves and surgical masks while picking up any item, including utensils, used by the quarantined person and cleaning his or her room.

The caregiver must not take off the gloves and masks so long he or she is in the room of the quarantined and wash hands properly after stepping out. The person in home quarantine must not step out of the house and attend any gathering, social or religious (see box). He or she must wear a surgical mask throughout the day and change it every six to eight hours. Masks cannot be reused under any circumstance.

“Anyone coming near a quarantined person must wear a surgical mask. The masks worn by the quarantined persons and others must be washed in a sodium hypochlorite solution before being burnt or buried in the ground,” said an official of the health department.

“These directives are clear about the role of individuals in home quarantine as well as that of his family members.”

“Our immediate stress is on home quarantine of primary and secondary contacts of a Covid-19 patient. We are not immediately thinking of increasing the number of quarantine centres.”

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said on Monday that those needed to be quarantined could stay at home taking all precautions if there was adequate space. “It spares the government the burden of shifting more people (to quarantine facilities).”

Late on Monday, health secretary Vivek Kumar issued an order saying those in home quarantine “will be under close surveillance of local health authorities and their status would be monitored closely for appropriate intervention as may be necessary”.

A section of doctors across medical colleges welcomed the move saying the washrooms at the quarantine centres in some medical colleges were ill-maintained, making it difficult for people to stay there.

In many hospitals, group-D employees or cleaners are allegedly refusing to clean the floors of the isolation wards. Even bedsheets are apparently not replaced regularly.

“If someone follows the dos and don’ts religiously, home quarantine is the best option. Emotional well-being makes a great difference at home,” said a senior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Quarantine directives

⚫ Room should be clean and airy

⚫ Do not step out of the room

⚫ Items of daily use cannot be shared

⚫ Always wear a mask, change it every 6-8 hours. Masks cannot be reused

⚫ Elderly, pregnant women, children must stay away from the room

⚫ One must wear gloves while holding any item used by the person in home quarantine or scrubbing the floor of the room. The gloves must be disposed of before washing hands

⚫ If the person in quarantine develops fever, cough or respiratory distress, call health department officials

⚫ After symptoms start showing, those who come in contact with the person will have to be in home quarantine for 14 days