Article contentContact tracing is considered a cornerstone of the fight against COVID-19, a key way to reduce case numbers that can quickly spin out of control. The idea is straightforward: when someone gets sick with the coronavirus, public-health officials find the people they might have infected and direct them into quarantine. Try refreshing your browser, or Broad testing, not contact tracing, only way to curb pandemic without damaging lockdowns: study Back to videoBut a new Canadian modeling analysis suggests that tracing done after someone develops symptoms is of limited value, inevitably requiring economically damaging lockdowns to be imposed at the same time. In the best-case scenario, contact tracing alone catches a third of new infections and soon becomes overwhelmed, say the scientists from Simon Fraser University and University of British Columbia. They suggest some form of widespread testing of people without symptoms, calling it the quickest way to identify cases and the people they might have infected — a way to essentially get ahead of transmission.

Source: National Post December 30, 2020 15:11 UTC