According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English) the period of time, in which we can get covid-19, if we had close contact with an infected person is 15 minutes. However, a new one study from National Football League (NFL) suggests that infection can occur with less than 15 minutes of exposure.
In the CDC’s weekly MMWR report of this January 25, 2021, cited by the CNN, brief interactions, like celebrating meetings and comer together without wearing a mask, they may have been responsible for these cases.
Investigation of the NFL part of contact tracing in the 2020 season. According to the information, among the measurements that were taken to avoid contagion of covid-19 they were virtual meetings whenever possible; suggesting that players wear a mask during practice; testing players and workers for COVID-19 six days a week and track back the contacts of people with proximity devices who measured time and distance from contacts.
Unlike the NBA, which had a closed bubble system, to the teams of the NFL They were allowed to live with their families at home and travel for the matchesmentions CNN.
Once the measures were taken, in July 2020, the League identified less than 10 cases of coronavirus per week. But between September 27 and October 10, 41 cases were identified among players and staff members. Of these, 21 were related to a outbreak that affected a team, which caused the closure of its facilities.
The report did not identify the team, but according to the media, including CNN, the facilities of the Titans de Tennessee They were closed on September 29, after 10 players and 10 staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
Research results
According to NFL research, the contact tracing revealed that among the 21 people who gave positive, seven had no interactions with an infected patient that totaled more than 15 minutes per day.
The interviews of contact tracing revealed that brief interactions included meetings without a mask in small rooms and meals, indicates the US media
As a result of this outbreak, the NFL implement New measures that require any club with a score of positive test use protocols more intensive for seven days, plus testing seven days a week, requiring masks during practice at all times and not allowing indoor meetings.
With these measures, the results of the negative test from the entire club also required a negative result before a player or staff member entered a facility.
Once the NFL implemented these measures, close contact of more than 15 minutes was seen decreased by 60%.
The CNN information indicates that the investigation evaluated more than 623,000 results from PCR tests from approximately 11,400 players and NFL staff members between Aug.9 and Nov.21 and found that only 2.9% of those studied had tested positive for COVID-19. According to the Covid Tracking Project, the positivity rate of the national test is around 8%.
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