Follow-up of close contacts and home isolation - advice for healthcare personnel and contact tracing team - archived
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Advice to health personnel on follow-up of close contacts and home isolation.
Under revision
This page is being updated. Meanwhile you will get the latest update from Feb. 12, 2022 on National recommendations and rules (government.no)
Isolation
Isolation applies to everyone who has confirmed SARS-CoV-2 and also applies if you are fully vaccinated or protected. If the living conditions are suitable and the patient does not need to be admitted to hospital, isolation can be carried out at home. If it is not possible to keep a good distance from others in the home, the patient should be offered another suitable place to isolate.
It is important that children and adolescents receive the care they need, even if this means that distance cannot be kept. This applies regardless of whether it is the child or guardian who is in isolation.
More information about what home isolation entails, with advice for the patient:
People confirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 are responsible for going into isolation and for informing close contacts. The municipality is not expected to contact all infected people.
The municipality should therefore provide comprehensive and accessible information about who to contact if people need health care or other types of assistance in isolation, to ensure that:
- patients who need it get necessary practical assistance
- any deterioration in health is detected
- the patient can comply with the measures
- the patient is told which close contacts need to be contacted and encouraged to be tested.
Healthcare personnel who shall enter the home of, or treat, patients isolated at home or their household members, must follow recommended infection control measures, including the use of personal protective equipment. See the advice given for the different healthcare sectors.
Follow-up of close contacts
A distinction is made between close contacts:
- household members or equivalent close contacts such as a romantic partner or best friend
- other close contacts.
Healthcare professionals who use personal protective equipment are not defined as close contacts.
Household members and equivalently close contacts over18 years, are recommended to be tested after exposure.
The municipality should ensure that there is sufficient information for inhabitants about how testing is carried out and which recommendations apply for people who are tested.
Follow-up of household members and equivalent close contacts
See Testing for SARS-CoV-2 av pasienter og ansatte i ulike risikokategorier [in Norwegian] regarding additional measures for close contacts who are employees of healthcare services.
- Household members and equivalent close contacts are recommended to take self-tests daily for 5 full days after the last exposure.
- If there is continuous close contact with the infected person, daily testing is recommended for 9 days (4 days during the infected person's isolation period + 5 days after that). In the case of several infections in the household, 9 days are counted from the time the last person became ill.
- In addition to daily testing, it is recommended to wear a face mask indoors in a public place and to avoid large gatherings and events for 10 days after close contact. Recommendations for face masks do not apply to children under 12 years of age, school children over 12 years of age during school hours and people who for medical or other reasons cannot use face masks.
- Test receommendations do not apply to household members and equivalent close contacts who have had COVID-19 in the last 3 months before exposure.
- The test should be a self-test, but can be a rapid antigen test or PCR test taken by a health professional.
- Children under lower secondary school age (grades 1-10) are only recommended to be tested if they have symptoms, even if they are household members to someone who is infected.
- No one should be forced to take a test.
- Care for children and others who need assistance must be taken care of. Close contacts should test themselves if they develop symptoms.
- In the case of a positive test, mandatory isolation for 4 days applies (see description above).
Follow-up of other close contacts
See Testing for SARS-CoV-2 av pasienter og ansatte i ulike risikokategorier [in Norwegian] regarding additional measures for close contacts who are employees of healthcare services.
- There are no separate recommendations for other close contacts.
- Everyone is recommended to be tested if they develop new symptoms.
Recommendations for confirming positive results
It is voluntary to confirm a self-test at a test station.
The following people do not need to have a PCR-test for confirmation:
- People who have received a third booster dose
- People who have had two vaccine doses and have had covid-19 during the last three months
The following people may have need to confirm a positive self-test with PCR or a rapid antigen test for professional use:
- Children under 16 who are unvaccinated or had one vaccine dose, for medical evaluation of further vaccination.
- Unvaccinated people or people with one or two doses in need of a corona pass.
People who are sick and seeking medical help, and where a confirmation of such a test is required for diagnostics, differential diagnostics and treatment, should have a PCR-test.