The Government of Romania, through the National Institute of Public Health, made a very important announcement today regarding the way in which people who had, or did not have, direct contact with other people confirmed to be infected with the new Coronavirus are categorized.
"Direct contact person is defined as the person who lives in the same household as a patient with COVID-19; the person who had direct physical contact with a case of COVID-19 (e.g. shaking hands without subsequent hand hygiene); person who had unprotected direct contact with infectious secretions of a case of COVID-19 (e.g. during coughing, touching handkerchiefs with the hand not protected by a glove); the person who had face-to-face contact with a case of COVID-19 at a distance of less than 2 meters and with a duration of at least 15 minutes; the person who was in the same room (e.g. classroom, meeting room, hospital waiting room) with a case of COVID-19, for at least 15 minutes and at a distance of less than 2 meters; a health care worker or other person who provides direct care to a patient with COVID-19 or a laboratory worker who handles samples collected from a patient with COVID-19 without wearing the correct protective equipment.
People for whom testing is recommended:
- 1. Symptomatic persons, including medical-sanitary and auxiliary personnel, according to the case definition;
- 2. Persons with a positive test result for the SARS-CoV-2 antigen;
- 3. Direct symptomatic contacts of confirmed cases;
- 4. Patients with a maximum of 48 hours before the transplant procedure (asymptomatic) and donors of organs, tissues and hematopoietic stem cells before donation; patients with transplantation of organs, tissues and hematopoietic stem cells under immunosuppressive treatment, before each hospitalization during the post-transplant monitoring period - 2 tests at 24-hour intervals;
- 5. The medical teams for sampling organs for transplantation that move from the transplant center to the sampling centers - every 2 weeks;
- 6. Asymptomatic patients with immunosuppression in the context of the disease or drug-induced, with a maximum of 48 hours before hospitalization. In this context, the term immunosuppression refers to: cytotoxic chemotherapy, long-acting biological agents, cellular immunotherapy, and high-dose glucocorticoids, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines;
- 7. Asymptomatic oncological patients undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, asymptomatic oncological patients undergoing chemotherapy - with a maximum of 48 hours before each treatment, respectively each presentation to the hospital for monitoring; asymptomatic oncological patients undergoing radiotherapy – before the first session and then after 14 days, until the end of the treatment;
- 8. Asymptomatic oncological patients before operative interventions or invasive maneuvers, with a maximum of 48 hours before the intervention/maneuver.
- In the case of child patients with oncological problems or who need surgical intervention, who are hospitalized with a companion, the companion is also tested.
- 9. Asymptomatic hemodialysis patients – twice a month. Asymptomatic hemodialysis patients in contact with a confirmed case, two tests 6-7 days apart;
- 10. Symptomatic hemodialysis patients;
- 11. Asymptomatic institutionalized persons – twice a month;
- 12. Nursing staff in residential centers - weekly;
- 13. Asymptomatic pregnant women who are in quarantine / isolation at home or have been in direct contact with a confirmed case - on day 14, if they have not become symptomatic;
- 14. Medical and sanitary personnel and asymptomatic auxiliary direct contact with a confirmed case, on the 6th-7th day after the last possible infectious contact."
