The risk of contracting coronavirus for members of the same family is much higher when they are at home during a lockdown than even if they were traveling by public transport, according to a study by Chinese scientists, the results of which were published in the journal Science.
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The study analyzed data on 1,178 patients in the Chinese province of Hunan (bordering on the province of Hubei, which became the epicenter of the epidemic at the beginning of the year) and 15,648 of their close contacts. It was found that the lowest risk of infection was in health centers where infection control measures were followed.
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Depending on the proximity of social interaction, the level of risk increased: it was lower in public transport, restaurants and places of entertainment, but higher when communicating with a wide range of relatives.
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The risk of transmission was highest in a family whose members live together.
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“These data confirm that proximity, closed environment and high frequency of contacts contribute to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” the study said.
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It emphasizes that the longer members of the same family with a COVID-19 patient are together, the higher the risk of contracting coronavirus:
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each additional day of living together increases the risk of infection by 10%.
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The authors of the study believe that the most effective way to resist the spread of infection is by isolating all patients, regardless of the severity of the disease, in specialized hospitals and placing all those in contact with them in medical observation centers.
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The self-isolation regime introduced in China’s Hunan province at the beginning of the year actually increased the risk of the spread of coronavirus within families who were forced to spend more time at home than usual, the journal Nature, which analyzed the study, said.
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