Alberta top doctor expects close contacts of variant cases will obey longer isolation

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This article was published 03/02/2021 (2094 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON – Alberta’s top doctor says she believes, with education and support, household contacts of people infected with more transmissible COVID-19 variants will abide by new quarantine rules.

Chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw clarified Wednesday that household contacts are considered exposed every day they share a home with someone infected with a virus variant, even if they have separate bedrooms and washrooms.

Previously, a close contact’s isolation would start at the same time as that of the confirmed case, if they could separate properly within the home.

But now, if everyone remains in the home and does not use a government-provided hotel room, a household contact has to quarantine for 14 days from when the infected person’s 10-day isolation period ends.

Hinshaw announced the new rule on Tuesday, but she said some misunderstood that all household contacts of variant cases would need to isolate for 24 days.

Hinshaw said contact tracers are able to provide information in different languages about why the new rule is important in stemming the spread of new variants and what supports are available.

“We want to make sure that people do have that option of going into an isolation or quarantine hotel if they’re not able to safely separate from their household because we have seen how much more infectious these variants are,” Hinshaw said in her Wednesday update.

“What we’re doing is working to make sure that they have the information about the increased risk that this variant poses and why in-home isolation for someone who’s infectious is not considered adequate because of the transmission that we have seen.”

Hinshaw said she did not know how many hotel rooms are being used for this purpose, but that demand has been on the rise in recent months.

A total of 57 cases of the variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa have been detected in Alberta.

Hinshaw also said she’s heard questions about a small number of people receiving the COVID-19 vaccine before they’re eligible and that, while such allegations undermine public trust, they might have been due to confusion.

Alberta reported 259 new COVID-19 infections in its latest update and 11 deaths from the virus.

There were 539 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 94 in intensive care.

— By Lauren Krugel in Calgary

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2021.