What’s the Risk of Catching Covid-19 at Home?
More than half of household members caught the disease in a series of case studies
When a person brings Covid-19 home, whether they know they’re infected or not, other people in the household are at risk for contracting the disease. Figuring out the risk level is difficult, but a study announced today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests about half of household members are likely to become infected.
The set of case studies followed people called “contacts” who were living in homes where one person, called the “index patient,” was known to have Covid-19. In all, there were 101 index patients and 191 contacts, none of whom had symptoms when the index patients first became ill. The contacts were aware of the situation, participated in the study, and were trained to self-administer tests for the disease.
The research involved households in Tennessee and Wisconsin who enrolled in the study between April and September. Though the number of people in the study is relatively small, the results offer some insights into what can happen.
Overall, 102 of the 191 household contacts contracted Covid-19, for a secondary infection rate of 53%. About three-fourths of the secondary transmissions were identified within five…
