A two-week quarantine period after Covid-19 is "reasonable" – although some patients will develop symptoms afterwards, US researchers reported last night.
The median incubation period for disease is 5.1 days while 97.5% of people will develop symptoms within 11.5 days of exposure, according to an analysis reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
According to the study, for every 10,000 people subjected to 14 days of quarantine, about 101 would develop symptoms after release.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, analysed 181 case reports from China, mostly involving travel to or from Wuhan in China.
Researcher Professor Justin Lessler said: "Based on our analysis of publicly available data, the current recommendation of 14 days for active monitoring or quarantine is reasonable, although with that period some cases would be missed over the long-term."
* The Lancet reported the first analysis identifying risk factors for death for adults hospitalised with the virus in Wuhan.
The researchers set out why age is linked to mortality and say that blood clotting issues are another key indicator of risk.
The research also sets out the risks of patients continuing to shed virus after apparent recovery from disease.
Researcher Dr Zhibo Liu, from Jinyintan Hospital, China, said: "Older age, showing signs of sepsis on admission, underlying diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes, and the prolonged use of non-invasive ventilation were important factors in the deaths of these patients.
"Poorer outcomes in older people may be due, in part, to the age-related weakening of the immune system and increased inflammation that could promote viral replication and more prolonged responses to inflammation, causing lasting damage to the heart, brain, and other organs."
Annals of Internal Medicine 9 March 2020
Lancet 10 March 20202
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30566-3/fulltext
Leave a Reply