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New rules for tampons and quarantine coming soon. ECDC, the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, provides EU states with the new guidelines. Indications that must then be applied to individual national situations. Because where daily infections fly and the ability to test people at risk is already beyond the limit, as in Italy, molecular tests can in some cases be replaced by rapid tests. But let’s see the new rules point by point and how they can be implemented in Italy also based on the first evaluations of our ISS.
Definition of “close contact” – Until now it was considered such that for 15 consecutive minutes with a positive at less than two meters away. Now the ECDC says that the quarter hour can be spent in the space of 24 hours. For example, during the day I go in and out of my positive colleague’s room several times, I stay there for more than 15 minutes and I am considered “at risk”, therefore subject to quarantine. Indication that Italy can receive.
I post-Covid – Another important news: those who have recovered from Covid and have had close contact are not required to take the test, but only if they have tested negative for no more than three months. Does this mean that after this period of time the antibodies stop protecting the former Covid from the virus and that, consequently, the vaccine would be equally short in effectiveness? “No, according to the ISS, it only means that the studies analyzed by the ECDC document that there have been no cases of reinfection after three months, while beyond that period there are no absolute certainties. An invitation to prudence that should also be accepted by Italy.
Swabs for symptomatic – Symptomatic contacts of a positive case can cause both the molecular swab to be considered the “gold standard” and the rapid antigen, which must be performed within 5 days of the onset of symptoms. If the rapid test is positive, no molecular verification is necessary. This is what the Regions are also asking for and that should be accepted by the Ministry of Health. If, on the contrary, the rapid swab is negative, the ECDC recommends confirming it with the molecular test or another rapid in 2-4 days. Molecular control will hardly be adopted in Italy to avoid further stressing the analytical laboratories. The indication of the ECdc to perform a rapid test in the first instance, even knowing that a second molecular test must be performed, derives from the need in case of positivity at the first swab to immediately put people in isolation, without waiting for the times. molecular examination lengths.
Swabs to the asymptomatic of a positive – They can do it both molecular and fast. But even in this case, if the antigen is negative, it is confirmed with the molecular one. Indication that it will hardly be accepted by Italy for the same reasons already mentioned.
Quarantine – ECDC recommends that high-risk exposure contacts remain in quarantine for 14 days after the last exposure with the positive case. In either case, a negative molecular test can be used on day 10 to stop the quarantine before two weeks. With us, the quick test is enough and will continue to be so.
