Thread by @BillHanage

I've been getting questions from friends about what to do if their child gets sent from home to quarantine, after a case is identified in their class or 'bubble' (or whatever is the local term) 1/n

First point, be pleased that the exposure was detected. Imagine if it had not been. The information is power which helps you and others avoid infection, that is what the quarantine is for 2/n

the alternative (not testing) means undetected transmission in schools could introduce the virus to many households. Younger children *are* less likely to become infected and suffer severe illness, but they can transmit 3/n

A case in a school is one thing, transmission is quite another. It suggests the capacity for clusters of cases amplifying transmission. And if the school has been attempting mitigating infection control, that it can be improved 4/n

(sorry should be "mitigation through infection control") 5/n

A quarantining kid should, it goes without saying I hope, not have contact with other kids outside the household, but what about family members? Well there are ways to reduce the risk to them 6/n

And they're what we are familiar with. Masks indoors. Ventilation. Ideally not sleeping in the same room as others (people who become infectious at night will shed a lot to their sleeping audience) 7/n

hand washing. Like many others, I am not persuaded that fomites are an important transmission route in general, but I will take them seriously in this case 8/n

and testing. I'd love there to be rapid antigen tests available such that quarantine could be curtailed, or at least informed by daily testing. Even though incubation periods can be long, they mostly aren't. So if you test negative for days in a row after exposure that's good 9/n

If going for a PCR test, it is wise to wait awhile before going to get tested (4-5 days after exposure, others closer to this likely have a better read). Remember that you can get false negatives early on in infection 10/n

A negative test under these circs under the great majority of cases means you can relax. But I want to finish saying something about transmission 11/n

Transmission is what matters - remember that if you send your quarantined child into a learning 'pod' with other quarantined kids, you are increasing the risk they get infected 12/n

so do what you can to reduce transmission. There's really a lot. Even if interventions on their own are small, they are powerful in combination nytimes.com/2020/12/05/hea… 13/n

this is ending up sounding tired, partially because I am. But the whole point of distancing is that you assume you are infectious and protect your neighbors accordingly. So when we know someone is exposed, that's why quarantine is important 14/end