“A cluster is defined by the WHO an accumulation of cases by time or place, or an accumulation of cases that are characterized by a common exposure, such as a trip together, attending a party or a cooking class, “explained Schmid continue. The process of locating a cluster is as follows: “Using rapid PCR tests, we can identify a new infection, from which we then start the further analysis with classic case and contact tracing. So we look backwards for up to 14 days – the maximum incubation time after a contact, in which the case may have been infected, the primary case. From the date of the index case’s illness, we then search again two days backwards and until the case is isolated for further contacts that the identified case could have infected. These are people who cumulatively had more than 15 minutes of close contact that would have made droplet transfer possible. “
The shortness of the serial interval with SARS-CoV-2 does that virus so treacherous: “I simply have little time to find the contacts in the following generations before they themselves become a case and thus a spreader”, the expert said aloud SMC.
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