COVID-19 Exposure

By Mary Gettens

JRN100 Stonehill News Staff Writer

Kate Rogers was shocked at the beginning of March when her daughter Sara said they had been exposed to COVID-19, the highly contagious virus that has developed into a worldwide pandemic.

“My first reaction was actually anger that I did not hear directly from the woman I sat next to at dinner. Then fear because I did not really know what to do and spent an inordinate amount of time reading on the internet about what to do,” said Rogers of Reading, Massachusetts. 

COVID-19 is the new highly contagious virus that spread throughout Wuhan, China in January 2019. The World Health Organization confirmed on December 31, 2019, that a mysterious pneumonia-like virus had sickened several Chinese people. COVID-19 symptoms include cough, fever, headache, shortness of breath, muscle aches, and sore throat. 

Rogers said that she and her daughter, a student at Arthur W. Coolidge Middle School, in Reading, MA, had been out to a basketball team dinner the week before one of the mothers tested positive. A week after, Sara was told by her teammate that her mother had tested positive for COVID-19.

Rogers’s experience of exposure, panic and not knowing what to do is playing out over and over across the country as the pandemic grows. States all over the nation have shut down schools and businesses. As well as placing a mandatory stay-at-home orders due to the number of confirmed cases increasing and health care workers being overwhelmed.

On its website, Massachusetts suggests that anyone who has been exposed to the virus should monitor their health for fever, cough, and shortness of breath for 14 days after the last day of close contact with a sick person with COVID-19. Anyone who is exposed should avoid going to work or school and avoid public places for 14 days.

Rogers found out ten days after she was exposed to the virus and she knew that spending time around her family was okay as they already had been together. The quarantine period was difficult at first. Her daughters Peyton and Sara were angry and did not understand why Rogers was being so strict with self-quarantining while other families were not taking it as seriously. 

“Once they understood how serious COVID-19 could be, they embraced it and then it was actually pretty easy. I think the danger of not quarantining was so evident that we all just took the approach that this was short term and necessary,” said Rogers. 

Rogers and her family had food delivered through Amazon during their quarantine period. She said working from home was not worrisome. Her workplace had a good plan in place for working from home through TEAMs meetings but she was worried how they would adapt to working remotely.

“I was more worried about the 110 people working for me and how they were going to be working from home based on all of their different situations. Some have roommates, some have kids staying home, all have jobs that are not based on working behind a desk. All different levels of people on my team,” said Rogers. 

Overall, Rogers said quarantining turned out to be beneficial for her family because it gave them more time to spend together. Quality family time was rare beforehand because of sports, school, and work. They kept the quarantine period interesting by having “themed dinners.” They had “Youth Sports Night” where they came dressed in their clothing from a youth sports team and had a semi-formal night as well.

In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker has closed all non-essential businesses and placed a stay at home order until May 18, 2020. People who go out in public are strongly advised to wear masks. 

While some people learn of exposure through family and friends, others find out from government officials. The government officials responsibility is to start contact investigations involving all people in New Hampshire who have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Many employees of the NH Division of Public Health Services, Bureau of Infectious Disease Investigation and Control, (BIDIC), have been a part of what is called a “Surge Staff,” employees reassigned to help with the contact investigations and to call those who have been exposed. 

Knatalie Vetter, a New Hampshire Public Health Advisor, is a part of BIDIC. The bureau has prepared a script to be used when calling those who were exposed to someone who tested positive. Advisors inform people of the exposure contact, recommend that they self-quarantine for 14 days as this is the incubation period, and provide information about additional resources.

“Calls start with introducing the BIDIC and BIDIC’s responsibilities during the pandemic. We then explain where and when they may have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19,” said Vetter. 

She said the majority of people understand the need to quarantine but have questions about others in their family or what to tell their employer. Others are incredulous, asking how they know this is not a spam call. Some are freaked out that the BIDIC knew where they have been and when, and keep asking how BIDIC got this information.

COVID-19 is a reportable virus, meaning every test result is required by law to be reported to the Division of Public Health Services in the state where the person tested lives. COVID-19 tests can be completed at the CDC in Atlanta, a state public health lab, or a private sector lab, such as Quest or LabCorp.

Once the NH Division of Public Health Services receives a positive test result, BIDIC calls the patient to see who they have been in contact with in the last 14 days. The BIDIC then begins a contact investigation and starts calling all the people in the last 14 days that the patient has been in contact with. 

“A few people expressed gratitude for the call and for the work the Department of Public Health is doing to reduce the spread and ‘flatten the curve’ in New Hampshire. Most do not say thank you but overall those getting calls have been understanding and polite. They are concerned for themselves, their family, and agree to self-quarantine,” said Vetter.

The United States had its first confirmed case on January 21, 2020, in Washington State. At the end of April, the World Health Organization website showed 1.4 million confirmed cases in the United States, with 118,979 recoveries and 59,136 deaths. Massachusetts is listed as the third state with the most confirmed cases in the United States at 58,302 and New Hampshire has 1,938 confirmed cases.

However, on April 14, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top immunologist in the United States, stated social distancing and other measures show there is a decline in the number of confirmed cases which means the curve is beginning to flatten slowly. 

As the pandemic continues, more people are finding themselves in Rogers's situation. Rogers said that her advice to anyone who is exposed and needs to quarantine is to take it seriously.

"Even if you do not have symptoms it does not mean that you cannot infect others,” she said. “Plan your days to keep yourself sane.”