19.01.2022

Changes in the Soite Area’s Coro­n­avirus Infec­tion Track­ing As Well as in the Dura­tion of Iso­la­tion and Quarantine

The num­ber of coro­n­avirus infec­tions is quick­ly increas­ing in the Soite area, and because of this, pri­or­i­ti­za­tion must be done in the infec­tion track­ing. Fur­ther­more, the dura­tion of iso­la­tion and quar­an­tine will be changed so that it is, in gen­er­al, five days. An over­all healthy per­son  who has mild res­pi­ra­to­ry symp­toms gen­er­al­ly does not need to con­tact the health care ser­vices nor seek out their coro­n­avirus test­ing. Home tests are rec­om­mend­ed for any­one who has symp­toms of a res­pi­ra­to­ry infection.

Coro­n­avirus infec­tions are so preva­lent in the area that exten­sive track­ing of infec­tions is impos­si­ble and from a human resources stand­point imprac­ti­cal. Infec­tion track­ing will now be con­cen­trat­ed to map­ping infec­tions con­firmed in the social and health care units.

In addi­tion to the new guide­lines for infec­tion track­ing, there will also be changes to the dura­tion of iso­la­tion and quar­an­tine and in the future, their dura­tion will gen­er­al­ly be 5 days regard­less of the person’s vac­ci­na­tion pro­tec­tion. The five days will be count­ed from the day the patient was tested.

Cur­rent instruc­tions are found on Soite’s coro­n­avirus website:

• Instructions for When you Suspect a Coronavirus Infection
• Treating a Coronavirus Infection at Home
• Isolation and quarantine instructions for persons who are infected with or have been exposed to COVID-19

Home test­ing rec­om­mend­ed as the pri­ma­ry method

We rec­om­mend home tests for any­one who has symp­toms of a res­pi­ra­to­ry infec­tion, such as a fever, a run­ny nose or a cough. A pos­i­tive home test result has to be treat­ed the same as a pos­i­tive result from an offi­cial test. Coro­n­avirus anti­gen home tests may not nec­es­sar­i­ly recog­nise the omi­cron vari­ant as accu­rate­ly as pre­vi­ous vari­ants, so we rec­om­mend tak­ing anoth­er home test again after a few days if the symp­toms of res­pi­ra­to­ry infec­tion persist.

An over­all healthy patient who is in good con­di­tion and has mild res­pi­ra­to­ry symp­toms gen­er­al­ly does not need to con­tact the health care ser­vices nor seek out their coro­n­avirus testing.

A pos­i­tive home test result for an adult has to be con­firmed with­in the health care ser­vices, if:

• the symptoms are serious
• the person belongs to a risk group
• the person is pregnant
• the person works within the social and health care services
• the person needs a sickness certificate for sickness allowance on account of an infectious disease for themselves or a family member or a result for a coronavirus passport.

A per­son who has test­ed pos­i­tive in Soite will receive a text mes­sage with instruc­tions for iso­la­tion and home treat­ment. Patients over the age of 60 will be con­tact­ed by phone. The Bud­dy­Care app is no longer used for con­tact with patients. An infect­ed per­son has to be reach­able at all times and fol­low the instruc­tions giv­en by the unit for infec­tious dis­ease control.

Soite will test patients under the age of 12 if the child belongs to a risk group or a doc­tor deems that there is cause for testing

Mild symp­toms of an infec­tion in a child younger than 12 can be observed at home with­out seek­ing out test­ing. The symp­toms are con­sid­ered mild if the child is alert and has the ener­gy to play and be active even if they have a run­ny nose, a cough or a fever. The child should avoid con­tact with peo­ple out­side the fam­i­ly until the symp­toms have decreased sig­nif­i­cant­ly. If the symp­toms are clear­ly begin­ning to decrease dur­ing obser­va­tion, seek­ing out coro­n­avirus test­ing is not necessary.

For chil­dren under 12 years of age, a coro­n­avirus test done by Soite is need­ed if the child has symp­toms indica­tive of a coro­n­avirus infec­tion and their symp­toms require a doctor’s assess­ment (and based on it a coro­n­avirus test).

For a child over 12 years of age or a young per­son, there is cause for a coro­n­avirus test done by Soite if they have symp­toms indica­tive of coro­n­avirus and belong to a risk group for seri­ous coro­n­avirus disease.

A child or a young per­son can return to day care or school when their con­di­tion is clear­ly improv­ing and their symp­toms are decreas­ing. As with oth­er virus infec­tions, a coro­n­avirus infec­tion also quick­ly becomes less infec­tious after the symp­toms have begun. Symp­toms like a run­ny nose or cough can linger for a long time after a recent res­pi­ra­to­ry infection.

Home quar­an­tine for five days for per­sons who live in the same house­hold as an infect­ed person

Per­sons liv­ing in the same house­hold as an infect­ed per­son (fam­i­ly expo­sure) must com­ply with home quar­an­tine in accor­dance with the Com­mu­ni­ca­ble Dis­eases Act for 5 days from the day the lat­est per­son who has become ill was test­ed. A per­son exposed through fam­i­ly expo­sures must observe home quar­an­tine regard­less of vac­cine protection.

If the exposed per­son gets symp­toms indica­tive of COVID-19 (a cough, run­ny nose, sore throat, fever, mus­cle aches, headache), the exposed per­son should make an appoint­ment for a coro­n­avirus test by fill­ing out the online Omaolo ser­vice coro­na symp­tom assess­ment at omaolo.fi/?lang=en or by call­ing Soite’s coro­n­avirus helpline on phone num­ber 06 828 7499, Mon­day to Sun­day 8 am to 4 pm.

If the per­son who is in quar­an­tine begins to have symp­toms, it is rec­om­mend­ed that the rest of the per­sons who live in the same house­hold avoid unnec­es­sary social con­tacts until the per­son who is in quar­an­tine has received the results from a coro­n­avirus test.

An iso­la­tion order is sent auto­mat­i­cal­ly to a per­son who has test­ed pos­i­tive with­in Soite

An iso­la­tion order cer­tifi­cate will be issued auto­mat­i­cal­ly for 5 days start­ing from the day of the test­ing. The iso­la­tion order cer­tifi­cate works as a sick­ness cer­tifi­cate for sick­ness allowance on account of an infec­tious dis­ease for the employ­er. The iso­la­tion order cer­tifi­cate will be sent auto­mat­i­cal­ly by mail to the patient’s home address with­in a few weeks after the iso­la­tion has end­ed. There is cur­rent­ly about a month’s delay in the pro­cess­ing of the iso­la­tion orders.

If a fam­i­ly mem­ber needs a cer­tifi­cate for sick­ness allowance on account of an infec­tious dis­ease, they have to con­tact Soite’s nurse spe­cial­ized in infec­tious dis­eases on the phone num­ber  040 804 2781 (10 am to 2 pm).