Quarantines, self-isolation, social distancing have come to Pa. What does it all mean?
It’s a term dating to the Black Plague. But, all of a sudden, quarantines feel very modern.
Quarantine, self-isolation and social distancing have become buzzwords as the country tries to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 — and New York’s governor even called in the National Guard to isolate one community in that state.
The Allegheny County Health Department is not saying how many people locally are or have been under quarantine or selfisolation, although the department does say it is engaged in health monitoring and surveillance.
Based on figures just from a few universities, there are likely dozens, if not many more, people in the Pittsburgh area avoiding close contact with others — even without any presumptive COVID-19 cases in the region. Additional individuals are selfisolating from business and personal travel.
Pittsburgh employers, such as Pittsburgh-based health system UPMC, have asked employees in affected countries to return to the U.S. and stay home for a while. “A small number of staff have been self-quarantining at home with appropriate compensation,” said UPMC spokeswoman Allison Hydzik. “Everyone has been very cooperative and nobody developed illness.”
The University of Pittsburgh called back 42 students who had been studying abroad in Italy, Japan and Korea, and 27 from France, Germany and Spain.
Explaining quarantine
An official quarantine is the strictest form of isolation. Pennsylvania has three statutes governing quarantine, according to the National Conference for State Legislatures.
At a news conference Friday, state Secretary of Health Rachel Levine noted that for the patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 (at that time there were two, though as of Tuesday there are 11), “We have a legal quarantine. It would be illegal to go out.”
For patients currently diagnosed with COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend they participate in no public activities and that any travel — local or otherwise — only be allowed by medical transport.
Patients in Pennsylvania are being monitored daily by public health officials, said Dr. Levine on Friday, and were complying voluntarily with 14-day quarantine orders.
“If we needed to, we could compel them — they have received quarantine notices — but they’re voluntarily staying,” she said. “I’m not aware of any state that is placing guards at people’s houses.”
Last year, a Pennsylvania county issued a court-ordered quarantine — for a woman exposed to measles in Allentown who had stated that she did not intend to comply with a voluntary quarantine. The Allentown Health Bureau brought food and water to her door to ensure that she did not leave her apartment.
The Allegheny County Department of Health has not said whether any patients here are now under legal quarantine orders.
In Pennsylvania, COVID-19 patients are allowed to be home with their families. “We work with them about social distancing from their family or anyone they need to interact with,” said Dr. Levine, noting their families are also asked to self-isolate.
The U.S. also implemented quarantines for the Ebola outbreak in 2014, as well as for other measles cases.
Quarantine comes from the Italian word for 40 — for the period of 40 days that Venice required ships to anchor before landing during the Black Plague outbreak in the 14th century. Before vaccines and antibiotics, quarantines were more common in the United States, with Pittsburgh instituting the nation’s first pneumonia quarantine in 1924.
Enforcing isolation
People don’t always seem to follow the rules.
As the use of quarantines has spread across the country — affecting at least 2,500 people in New York state and 9,700 in California — there are instances where people have violated self-isolation recommendations prior to a positive COVID-19 test.
New Hampshire’s first COVID-19 patient, a health care worker who had recently traveled to Italy, went to a mixer for Dartmouth business school students despite being told to self-isolate by a doctor. He tested positive three days later, and the state later ordered him under mandatory isolation.
In St. Louis, the father of a daughter who was being tested for coronavirus after returning from studying abroad in Italy infuriated much of the community by attending a father-daughter school dance at a Ritz-Carlton hotel with his younger daughter. They left the dance when the older daughter’s test came back positive, and the family’s lawyer said they were never told to quarantine themselves, according to news reports.
Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called in the National Guard to set up and enforce a one-mile containment zone around a cluster of COVID-19 cases in New Rochelle, N.Y. The guard will assist with food deliveries to people quarantined in their homes.
For travelers returning from countries with widespread COVID-19 outbreaks, Pittsburgh schools and businesses are largely recommending self-isolation and social distancing rather than strict quarantines, in accordance with recommendations from the CDC.
Those recommendations for travelers include taking their temperature twice daily to monitor for fever and staying home as much as possible, including from work or school
If someone under self-isolation does have to go out, the CDC advises against taking public transportation or rideshares and avoiding crowded “congregate settings,” such as shopping centers, movie theaters and stadiums.
When those under self-isolate must be around others, the CDC recommends practicing “social distancing,” meaning maintaining a distance of 6 feet from other people.
“Pitt faculty and staff are working closely with those students who are social distancing in order to make appropriate academic accommodations, which can include online and distance learning,” said spokesman Kevin Zwick. Students were asked to go to their permanent place of residence for self-isolation for 14 days before returning to campus, he said.
He also noted as part of the university’s pandemic plan, Pitt is “identifying facilities which could be used for isolating sick individuals or quarantine of asymptomatic individuals.”