The concept of tracing personal interactions to follow and even predict the spread of COVID-19 took a turn this week when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) redefined contact.

Imagine you test positive for COVID-19. Once your results are in, the tracing begins. What is a close contact? Who of these would be added to the list:

  • The clerk who cashed you out at the supermarket?
  • A neighbor you chatted with about the World Series?
  • The driver of the bus you take to work?
  • Your colleague who occupies a cubicle on the other side of the office?

Initial guidelines would have included anyone, masked and unmasked, with whom you had at least 15 consecutive minutes of contact where you were less than 6 feet apart. The new CDC parameters have expanded the scope to include anyone within 6 feet of you, contributing to a total of 15 minutes in a 24-hour period.

This change promises to greatly impact the way close contact in school, work and other group situations is viewed and comes as the nation’s statistics soar during the virus’ second wave.

Infectious disease experts also believe this broader view of virus transmission further underscores the value of hygiene habits such as physical distancing, mask wearing and hand washing.

“The important information from this virus that we’ve learned,” said Dr. Faiqa Cheema, a Hartford HealthCare infectious disease specialist, “is about 30 to 45 percent of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic transmissions account for a lot of the new cases of COVID-19. Another thing we’ve learned is that wearing a mask and physical distancing has played a very significant role in mitigating and decreasing the surge of this infection.”

The CDC announcement pointed to a case in which a Vermont prison employee had 22 interactions with prisoners who later tested positive for COVID-19. The interactions totaled more than 17 minutes in an eight-hour shift.

The employee was not considered a close contact with the prisoners so he continued to work for more than a week before virus symptoms emerged.

“It’s important that when we’re going out we’re wearing our masks so when we cough, sneeze or speak we’re not exposing other people or the environment around us to any infected aerosols,” Dr. Cheema said. “It’s just social etiquette — it shows that you respect yourself, you respect everybody else around you and you really understand the basic facts that humans are the main vectors of transmission of the virus.”