With input from Dr Monica Vasudev

1121: HCFI Round Table Expert Zoom Meeting on “Cohorting during Unlocking — Different approaches”

24^th October, 2020, 11am-12pm

Participants: Dr KK Aggarwal, Dr AK Agarwal, Prof Mahesh Verma, Dr JA Jayalal, Dr Suneela Garg, Dr Alex Thomas, Dr Ashok Gupta, Dr Jayakrishnan Alapet, Mr Bejon Mishra, Dr Rajikul Islam, Dr KK Jain, Dr KK Kalra, Dr Anil Kumar, Ms Ira Gupta, Dr S Sharma

Consensus Statements of HCFI Expert Round Table 

• Masking, physical distancing, hand hygiene and surface disinfection are known protective strategies.
• CDC has redefined close contact as “someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutesor more over a 24-hour period (individual exposures added together over a 24-hour period)”.
• The concept of biobubble, to minimize the risk of transmission of COVID-19, is being implemented in the ongoing IPL tournament.
• A high school in Georgia in the US had to quarantine almost one-fourth of its students and suspend in-person learning just a week after the school reopened after 25 students tested positive.
• Many schools in Los Angeles County in the US are reopening by segregating one class into smaller groups or cohorts.Around 6 lakh students and all staff will be tested with results being available the same day. Such large-scale testing is not possible in India.
• The challenges for schools are access to testing and cost.
• Creating mini-biobubbles in school is a good concept for schools. 
• All preventive measures of hand hygiene, face coverings, physical distancing, staggering of schedules and cohorting (dividing students into small, fixed groups)will be adhered to.
• Cohorting is applicable to educational institutes, but not restaurants, cinema halls, etc.
• Class rooms should be non-airconditioned, fully ventilated along with cohorting of students to reduce chances of transmission.
• COVID ICUs should also be non-airconditioned so that the risk of infection in doctors is less.
• Consider fixing (allotting) a seat for each student in the cohort. They will not mix with other groups.  One small group needs to be tested, instead of the entire school and one small cohort will need to be quarantined instead of the whole school or a larger group of students. However, its feasibility has to be studied. It may be possible where resources are not an issue. The subgroup has to be defined, e.g., what should be the number of students in one cohort.
• The risk of infection in airplanes is low because there is laminar flow from top to bottom inside the plane with exchange of air every 6 minutes.
• This concept can be developed into a protocol and be made accessible to policy makers and law makers.
• Fear reduction is foremost; if fear is reduced, transmission is reduced.

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA