Over 50% of coronavirus patients lie during epidemiological investigation
Epidemiological investigators warn that this can't be done without the cooperation of those being investigated.
By CELIA JEANHOME FRONT Command soldiers work at the Dan Hotel in Jerusalem in April, after it was turned into a quarantine facility.(photo credit: YOSSI ZAMIR/FLASH90)
At least 50% of coronavirus patients lie during their epidemiological investigation, Home Front Command said Thursday.The tracing of the chain of infection has been severely impacted by people lying during investigations, Home Front Command said, adding that it could not properly track the people they may have been in contact with. As a result, it could not warn people to enter quarantine before infecting others.Each investigator spends up to four hours per investigation. On occasion it can take less, but this is because after an investigator calls a coronavirus patient, the patient hangs up.A citizen is not obligated to cooperate with an epidemiological investigator.Epidemiological investigators are tasked with breaking the chain of infection. However, the task cannot be done without the cooperation of those being investigated, Home Front Command said.Of those who are infected, at least half of them refuse to admit who they have been in contact with.Up to 30% of people found in the presence of a coronavirus patient during an investigation refuse to be examined, the coronavirus cabinet reported.On an average day, at least three people required to be isolated are found per coronavirus patient, due mainly to the recent lockdown. But at least seven to 10 people per coronavirus patient should require isolation, according to Home Front Command.Without the proper cooperation of those being investigated, the daily morbidity rate will begin to rise in the winter, it said.Home Front Command said it intends to conduct up to 4,000 investigations per day during the winter and complete each one within 32 hours. It plans to recruit up to 3,000 investigators within two weeks.
