“What is a Probable Case of Covid-19?”
PROBABLE COVID CASES – “Definitions and Educations”
We now track Covid cases as a combination or “Confirmed Positive & Probable Cases.”
To help define and encourage better understanding here’s some clarification:
It may be deemed that a person is “Probable” (e.g. clinically diagnosed for COVID-19 or epidemiologically linked) if they came in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 and was determined to be high risk during the disease investigation, AND they became symptomatic in the two weeks after.
However, just because one person in your household tests positive that does not mean everyone is counted as a positive/probable case. The other people that live in the same household that were within six feet for 15 minutes or more of cumulative time within 24 hours will be listed as a contact and will do a daily health assessment. If they became symptomatic it’s only then they will be considered a “probable case.”
Most of the time, a "probable case" in our County is what we classify as a person who received a positive rapid test. These tests are so much more accurate today. Most hospitals and clinics now rely on them almost exclusively for a symptomatic person. Again, we will list a person who has symptoms and has documented direct contact with a person who has tested positive as a probable. More times than not, this is another member of the same household. This is done to prevent them from having to further burden the healthcare system to receive a test that will most likely come back positive since they are sharing a household with a confirmed case, and have COVID like signs and symptoms.
Finally, if a probable case is later “confirmed (by standard PCR Molecular test), the case will be deduplicated and will only be counted once.
PROBABLE COVID CASES – “Definitions and Educations”
We now track Covid cases as a combination or “Confirmed Positive & Probable Cases.”
To help define and encourage better understanding here’s some clarification:
It may be deemed that a person is “Probable” (e.g. clinically diagnosed for COVID-19 or epidemiologically linked) if they came in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 and was determined to be high risk during the disease investigation, AND they became symptomatic in the two weeks after.
However, just because one person in your household tests positive that does not mean everyone is counted as a positive/probable case. The other people that live in the same household that were within six feet for 15 minutes or more of cumulative time within 24 hours will be listed as a contact and will do a daily health assessment. If they became symptomatic it’s only then they will be considered a “probable case.”
Most of the time, a "probable case" in our County is what we classify as a person who received a positive rapid test. These tests are so much more accurate today. Most hospitals and clinics now rely on them almost exclusively for a symptomatic person. Again, we will list a person who has symptoms and has documented direct contact with a person who has tested positive as a probable. More times than not, this is another member of the same household. This is done to prevent them from having to further burden the healthcare system to receive a test that will most likely come back positive since they are sharing a household with a confirmed case, and have COVID like signs and symptoms.
Finally, if a probable case is later “confirmed (by standard PCR Molecular test), the case will be deduplicated and will only be counted once.