Dangerous New Trend In Bengaluru, Entire Families Are Testing Positive For COVID-19

COVID-19 hospitals across Bengaluru are witnessing a new trend - of entire families getting infected with SARS-CoV 2.

In a recent incident, all 22 members of a family from Bengaluru tested positive and all of them required hospitalisation.

Image For Representation/Reuters

The family was treated at a private hospital on Bannerghatta Road and all of them, luckily, got better. The members included a couple that worked as domestic help.

According to TOI, a doctor who treated the family said ¡°Imagine the financial burden on the family, not just the stress, anxiety and loss of health. This proves that the infection is spreading more indoors where social distancing is not being followed.¡±

Also Read: As People Violate COVID-19 Guidelines, Delhi Records The Highest Single Day Spike In Infections

¡°The infectivity is highest two days prior to showing of clear symptoms and one day after, as per one research. This is the time when other members of the family too get infected. There is an introducer within the family and he/she spreads the virus to others,¡± said Dr Raveendra Mehta, chief of pulmonology at Apollo Hospitals.

Image For Representation/Reuters

Three to five members of a family getting infected has become a pattern and one or two members who step out infect the others who are homebound.

Dr Sudha Menon, director of internal medicine at Fortis Hospital, recalled one family where eight people were infected. A young man was the carrier and spread the virus to his in-laws¡¯ family too. ¡°At home, nobody bothers to take precautions. The pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic persons do not realise that they are infectious,¡± she said.

Also Read: After Mumbai, Bengaluru & Ahmedabad, Now Chennai Reports Reinfection Among Cured COVID Patients

Dr Sunil Kumar K, a consultant for interventional pulmonology at the hospital, told TOI, ¡°There is a misbelief that wearing of masks and physical distancing applies when somebody goes outside the home. Many families and individuals are to a large extent compromising on taking precautions.¡±

Image For Representation/Reuters

¡°There are multiple families where 8-10 members have got infected but not everyone would require hospitalisation. In many families we have observed that separate rooms and toilets are just not available for home isolation,¡± said Dr Kavita Patil, director of Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences.

In many cases where several members of a family have been infected, travel history has been a factor, she added.