Close Contact Review in COVÝD-19: Examples of Three Families Living in a Small Town

INTRODUCTION: The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, which has spread rapidly around the world since December 2019, could not be stopped despite all vaccination and quarantine practices. In addition, with the mutations in the SARS-COV-2 strain, the virus has gained the ability to be transmitted much faster and easily. In this study, first of all, it has been tried to focus on the type of transmission route of the virus among close-contact family members. In this way, it is aimed to show the importance of social distance, infected person isolation, contact tracking and quarantine practices.
METHODS: The research was planned, with a large number of people infected in three interconnected families living in the rural area where the virus was infected. The retrospective findings of the COVID-19 case cluster identified during the fieldwork were evaluated.
RESULTS: SARS-CoV-2 PCR test was positive in 40 members of 3 families included in the study. It was determined that index cases belonging to all families (Family B1, Family C1) had direct or indirect contact with the family (A1) who was detected as the first positive case in the village. The age range of all cases ranged from 1-79, while the age range of symptomatic cases was 18-79. The most common symptoms were cough, fever, fatigue and shortness of breath. The cases were mostly kept under hospital follow-up for 3-11 days.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Early isolation of COVID-19 cases is important and effective in preventing the clustering and further spread of the epidemic.