Contact refers to being around a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 for greater than 15 minutes. If someone comes in close contact with a suspected or confirmed case in a crowded or ill-ventilated place without a mask then it is confirmed that the person has a COVID-19 infection.
In such a case, the person should themselves. After isolation, it is important to go for a CRP test to check baseline inflammation in the body. If contact is strong enough to get infected, then the person should start taking Ivermectin 12 mg once daily. Since it is a longer-acting drug,one tablet is sufficient in a day.
One should also take, Doxycycline 100 mg once daily for 3 days as it is an anti-viral and anti-inflammatory drug and also stabilizes the plaque. The person should also start taking 0.5% to 1% Povidone-iodine Betadine gargle two to three times a day. If the CRP of the person is greater than 1 with a greater risk of infection the doctor will add colchicines 0.5 mg daily.
Here, the at-risk patients are those with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, obesity, higher cholesterol, uncontrolled blood pressure, angina, heart blockages or fatty liver, etc. Vitamins like zinc vitamin C and D should also be started so doctors prescribe multivitamins and wait for symptoms.
If the person starts showing symptoms, they should go for RT-PCR or RAT tests and if symptoms don’t appear till the 5th day the person should go for RT-PCR or RAT on that day. If tests are negative on the 5th day, it indicates they did not get infected or have minor severity. Thus, the close history of contact can be of a single person or multiple people in a family.
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