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he is instructed to stay at home for the recommended stretch after
his symptoms disappear.
Jack is informed that he will receive full sick pay as long as he
sends a text message of his temperature every six hours and as long
as he abides by self-isolation or, if he’s not able to text, he will be
visited daily by a community health worker to monitor his tempe-
rature and condition. He is also given an emergency call-in number
and a website for food deliveries if necessary. The health worker
leaves some face masks in case Jack must have any contacts with
others, such as a family member or delivery service. The health
worker also leaves a thermometer if one is needed.
Jack has been caught by the public health service after just two
days of being infectious, and so will have made an average of only
32 contacts (16 contacts a day for two days), even less than the 36
contacts we’ve assumed he would make during 6 days of partial
lockdown (six contacts a day for six days). This containment system
can find a substantial proportion of symptomatic cases as long as
the lockdown phase has done its job of repressing the pandemic.
And for those the system does not catch, individuals themselves
can step up their own response. Those with symptoms can call a
Covid-19 hotline to arrange for a rapid diagnostic test at home or
a pharmacy. The outcome should be the same: early isolation so as
not to infect others. Of course, individuals should have guaranteed
paid sick leave and free testing so that they can afford to self-isolate.
The newly scaled up public health system, augmented by
heightened self-monitoring by the public at large, can keep ahead of
new infections. If enough newly infected people are visited early on
by public health workers, or go quickly into self-isolation before in-
fecting other people, the pandemic will continue to slow and then
stop. Other steps, such as wearing face masks, monitoring tempe-
ratures in crowded public places, and placing hand sanitizers in
many locations, could also help.

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