The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its definition to better define close contact with a Covid-19 patient. The new definition includes multiple, brief exposures. That change occurring after a Vermont prison worker appears to have been infected that way.
CDC officials said new definition includes exposures adding up to a total of 15 minutes spent six feet or closer to an infected person. Under previous rules, the CDC defined a close contact as 15 minutes of continuous exposure to an infected individual.
The agency changed the definition after a report from Vermont of a corrections officer who became infected after several brief interactions with coronavirus-positive inmates — none of them lasting 15 minutes, but adding up over time.
