Nagpur: With more relaxation in public movement after reopening of places of worship, health officials and doctors feel anyone can be a super spreader and not just those identified by the state public health department in view of a possible second wave.
In its letter dated November 11, the department had laid emphasis on performing 50% of daily Covid testing on people who are likely to come in contact with a lot of people. As per the circular, petty vendors, hawkers, public transport workers, delivery persons and those from day-to-day services are among those from whom Covid may spread speedily during the second wave.
Consulting pulmonologist at Kingsway Hospitals Dr Vikram Rathi called for scrapping the term ‘super spreader’. “Whatever measures the administration had taken during the first wave should be continued and improved upon. If anyone tests positive, contact tracing from that source must be done,” he suggested.
Senior pulmonologist Dr Ashok Arbat preferred to look at the ‘super spreader’ concept from a broader perspective. “Once infected, people remain carriers as the virus is in their body for a long time. They too can spread it and not just ‘super spreaders’ if they are yet to develop antibodies,” said Dr Arbat.
He added that it is unlikely that the class of people identified as ‘super spreader’ would be responsible for a second wave. “It is likely that the second wave will be seen in untouched pockets,” he said.
Dr Hema Dhoble, head of medical administration, Suretech Hospital, too, felt the ‘super spreader’ tag was unfair and it is now time to revive trace, test and isolate norms.
OCHRI director Dr Anup Marar said testing of ‘super spreader’ is theoretically a good concept. “People who are ignorant about their asymptomatic carrier state may innocently spread the disease and can be classified as super-spreader as they are in touch with many citizens because of the professions they are involved in. However, I am not sure whether this step will be practically feasible or fruitful during this ongoing relaxation in lockdown. People are too reckless and ignorant,” he said.
Supporting the government, infectious disease specialist Dr Nitin Shinde said that everybody can’t be super spreaders. Only 20% are spreaders and form clusters. “We can’t control the virus spread. If restrictions would have stopped it, the virus would have disappeared by now. It is not going to go unless there is sufficient vaccine coverage. The virus will continue to move till it finds susceptible population, irrespective of the measures we take. No society can follow restrictions for such a long time. So, it’s better to identify super spreaders and slow down the virus till the cavalry comes (vaccine),” he said.
Dr Shinde suggested early hospitalization between day 6 to 12 if complications develop, test all sick people, focus on rural areas and formulate strategies to prevent hospitalization as prevention measures.