SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — What should you do if you come into contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, COVID-19?
Do you: Self-quarantine? Isolation or Social Distancing? Which one applies to you?
Those are the questions many San Diego parents stopped to ask themselves, after a mom or dad at the San Diego Jewish Academy tested positive for Coronavirus.
The Academy was the first school in the San Diego region to close Thursday amid coronavirus concerns.
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Head of school Chaim Heller announced the next day that a parent had tested positive for coronavirus, adding that the parent had the results that same day of testing.
The parent, who has three kids at the school, did not travel outside of the country, and because of that fact, it remains unclear how he or she contracted the virus.
The Jewish Academy said the parent and children could have been with anyone at the school, from the academy’s preschool through high school.
The scenario raises the question: How does anyone know whether to self-quarantine if they don’t show symptoms but may have been exposed to someone with coronavirus?
San Diego County Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten said, use the “close contact rule.”
“Six feet, if you were not within six feet of an individual the risk would be substantially low,” said Wooten.
It’s a conundrum faced by others in the community as well.
Anyone may be nervous if they visited a place of business or perhaps fitness center, and was suddenly notified that someone there has tested positive for the virus.
So should you be concerned if you think you were in the same room as, or passed by a person with a potential case of coronavirus?
Dr. Wooten said, “droplet transmission is the mode of transmission. Air transmission happens in the hospital if doing a procedure, but droplet transmission, that’s the mode of transmission. If you just pass someone in the hallway, very unlikely.”
The takeaway, according to health experts, is take precaution regardless.
As the number of Coronavirus cases grows in San Diego, and across the United States, keep a distance.
But besides social distancing, experts want people to self-monitor themselves, and quarantine if there was close contact - remember six feet or less.
If you’re still unsure, the San Diego County Department of Public Health said you can call a duty officer at the epidemiology unit at 619-692-8499.