The WMU Crisis Management Team has prepared a set of answers to most frequent questions asked by the staff and students of our university. We encourage you to take a look at the list below.
1. What does it mean to have a contact of:
- Low risk
- High risk
2. Do single-use masks prevent the infection?
- Single-use masks, including surgical masks, FFP2and FFP3 provide valid protection against the infection.
- Most efficient protection occurs when all of the people in the room are wearing masks in a proper way, that is it covers their mouth and nose and adheres to the face.
3. Is it possible for a patient to infect others before developing symptoms?
- Yes, up to 2 to 3 days before the symptoms occur, which means that also asymptomatic patients have the ability to infect others.
4. Is it true that Covid-19 patients, whose symptoms lasted up to 3-5 days, are no longer infectious to others?
- That is absolutely false. Those patients are still potentially infectious and should absolutely be isolated or, if it is necessary, hospitalised.
- People who were in contact with a sick or infected person should be quarantined and are required to leave their workplace immediately after receiving information about a contact with a SARS-CoV-2 positive person.
5. How long is the hatching period for Covid-19?
- The hatching process lasts between 2 to 14 days, 5 to 6 days on average.
6. When, in the case of an infected person, who is being isolated, is it proper to take a RT-PCR test?
- If a person shows symptoms of the infection – as soon as possible
- If a medical worker has been infected asymptomatically or with mild symptoms- 7 to 8 days after the notification
- A negative result on day 7 to 8 enables faster return to work
- A positive result on day 7 or 8 requires isolating for up to 10 days
- After 10 days without developing symptoms it is possible to go back to work or classes without the need of taking a test
- No indications for retesting after 10 days of isolation
7. Who is eligible for quarantine?
- A person from a direct contact with someone who has been infected. It is advisable to assess the risk, because not every immediate contact with an infected person requires quarantine. Social distance, wearing or not wearing masks, protective clothing, hand sanitising after being in contact with different surfaces and ongoing disinfection of surfaces or the lack of are all factors which should be taken into consideration when deciding on the need for quarantine.
8. How long does quarantine last?
- Quarantine lasts for 10 days, counting from the last day of contact
- After this period I is possible to go back to school and classes
- People under quarantine don’t have to take a RT-PCR test
9. Does a person from a secondary contact, which had contact with a person who has been quarantined, should be quarantined and tested as well?
- In case of a person, who didn’t have contact with an infected person, but only with a person who has been quarantined (contact to contact), there’s no need for quarantine; self-observation is recommended
10. Do people who live together with a person being quarantined should also obey to quarantine rules?
- Yes
11. Is there such a thing as an “immunological passport”?
- There is no immunological passport. Not much is known about the acquired immunity after being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including its duration in individuals and protection against reinfection
12. What kind of a test is obligatory to confirm the SARS-COV-2 infection?
- The molecular RT-PCR test
- A positive result indicates SARS-CoV-2 infection
- A negative result indicates that with high probability the infection can be excluded
- If the symptoms indicate otherwise, the test should be retaken
